


Different

by AkeboshiShiba



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 11:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4135578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkeboshiShiba/pseuds/AkeboshiShiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things could have been different, Obito knew that they could have been. But... things are going to be different anyways, because now... it is a different face, a different name, two different girls, and the possibility of two different fates. What if Madara screwed himself over by accident?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sixteen year old sighed as she walked through the woods, she was searching for something; although the thing she was looking for was just as much a mystery as how she had gotten lost out there. Her fingers touched and she pulled them away from one another; she refused to let that habit start back up. She heard a thump nearby and she silently made her way over to the cause of the noise. She was curious, but as everyone knew curiosity killed the cat. Her hands just barely brushed the tree bark and the person called out to her.

"Ano, is someone there?" His voice sounded stressed so she walked out from around the tree a bit. She saw a figure on the ground, a mask covering his face. He appeared to be holding his side in pain, she heard his heavy breathing and her lip trembled. She was at a loss as to what to do, she did what felt right. "A-are you alright?" She asked and his head lolled to face her. "Eheh...Not quite..." He said, his voice sounded like he were forcing the way it sounded. She furrowed her brows and took two steps forward. "Would you like s-some help?" She asked and he nodded hesitantly.

"Tobi is a good boy. Tobi won't hurt you." He said way too cheerfully, but it still felt forced. Her brows furrowed a bit, but she still made her way over to him. "Y-your name is Tobi?" She asked and he nodded lightly; she understood that if anyone else would have asked her if she were dumb, because he had just said his name. Hinata smiled a bit, he seemed to want to comfort her instead of scare her. She crouched next to him and he moved his hands a bit and she heard him grimace from under his mask. "What happened?" She asked softly as she tried to pull the fragmented wood from his wound. "Ah...Tobi doesn't really know...Tobi hasn't gotten hurt in...A very long time..." She listened quietly, his voice wavered between tones, but if you weren't used to just listening; you wouldn't have heard it.

She was curious as to why he spoke the way he did, she supposed it was so that people would look over him and make them think that he wasn't a threat. It was smart, Hinata could do something similar, but she wasn't much of a threat either way... She sighed as she used her chakra as a light to see. It was a very nasty wound. Whatever had been broken off inside him wasn't fully there anymore, but if left untreated he would die.

So she began carefully pulling the fragmented wood pieces out of his side the best she could without hurting him more. "I can't h-heal you c-completely, b-because I'm not very s-skilled at medical Jutsu yet, but I will c-come back every day and use s-some of my healing salve...it works really w-well even if I c-can't help all that much..." She said softly and twiddled her fingers. "Tobi thanks you! No one ever helps Tobi...they always treat him badly..." He sighed while rubbing the side of his head and she blushed lightly when he reached over and ruffled her hair. "I s-suppose people a-are just m-mean..." She said and she saw his single eye sign his smile from the single eye hole in his mask, although it was difficult for her to see she knew it was there. Hinata tucked a stand of hair behind her ear and pulled the healing salve from her hip pouch, she always carried one with her in case she got hurt while training. "How old are you, bunny-Chan?" He asked and she blinked and tried not to drop the canister of salve. She blushed and gripped the container.

"Sixteen, Tobi-san." She said and he nodded lightly. "Tobi is twenty four." He said and made an attempt to count it on his fingers but realized there weren't enough there and dropped his hands with an exasperated sigh. Hinata giggled lightly and he chuckled. "Y-you said you h-haven't gotten hurt in a long time... W-what do you mean by t-that?" She asked as she gently moved the cloth away from his injured side. "Tobi means just that... Tobi hasn't felt any pain since he was a little kid not much younger than you..." He said with the tilt of the head and she nodded as she fiddled with the cloth around his wound to try and pull it back the rest of the way.

Tobi had seen her struggling to get the cloth out of the way, so he shrugged halfway out of his cloak and lifted his shirt, she noticed the small fact he would only lift it on one side keeping the other from being exposed as well. She wasn't going to pry on it because it had nothing to do with the injury at hand. He did so in as few movements as possible, so she assumed he was in an ungodly amount of pain. "This should h-have been fatal..." She stammered lightly and her blush that was caused from him exposing himself to her so easily, faded away. She understood well that if you are in pain and someone was offering to help you, you have to make it easy for them to do so; she just wasn't expecting him to be so compliant.

At the moment she had said that, his entire body tensed up, but just as fast it relaxed because the gaping wound in his side sent a fire through his being. "You mean Tobi could die?" He asked and he watched as her brow furrowed. "Don't be s-scared, Tobi-san, I may not be the best m-medic... But Tsunade-sama has thought m-me the basics... I w-won't let you d-die." She said and smiled as a flickering green light coated her hands. The green chakra reacted with the salve she had placed on the wound moments before and the pain started to fade. Now Hinata had seen men shirtless before when helping Tsunade at the hospital... but... This was particular man was a bit distracting to her for reasons even she didn't know.

She blushed, ashamed of her thoughts and wandering eyes, the man could have died for heaven's sake and she was sitting here, easing his pain yet gawking at him like she had never seen a shirtless man in her life. She blushed and shoved her thoughts into the back of her mind. "T-that's all I can do for tonight, Tobi... I will be back tomorrow... b-but before I g-go, would you like some help finding shelter?" She asked and he waved at her with both hands with a nervous chuckle. "No no bunny-Chan! Tobi is going to stay right where he is at, no one will hurt Tobi again. Promise!" Tobi said and she smiled lightly and bowed. "Hinata Hyuuga." She said and he cocked his head to the side. "My name...it's Hinata." She said and he nodded. "Goodbye Hinata-Chan" he said and waved at her, still weary of his side in case it decided to hurt again.

That had been the first time she had met him, never in her life had she met a man like that. He intrigued her, which had led to a second, third, fourth, and even a fifth meeting. By the fifth meeting there wasn't a scratch left from where he had been hurt, she had healed him in a professional manner, despite her internal wishes of wanting to be able to meet with him longer. She held her hand out to him and he took it. He stood for the first time in a week and a half. He had not wanted to stand for worry of what she had already healed splitting open once more.

She watched with a soft smile as he twisted energetically and stretched animatedly. "Tobi feels even better than he did before!" He cheered and she giggled, but her soft laughter faded asks she frowned at her feet. Add if he sensed her change in moods, he looked over to her. "So I t-take it you must l-leave now?" She asked sadly and he stiffened. "Tobi can't stay..." He said, but it sounded like he didn't really want to say it. "Tobi had other things he had to do, And he can't stay here. If he does, Bunny-Chan will be in danger too." He said in the same voice she knew he was forcing. "Please don't be like t-that. You can't hide anything from my eyes." She said and he turned to face her, surprise showed in his stance. "You're hurt somewhere else..." She said and he stiffened.

"I'm watching you, even if you're trying to hide it from me." She said and saw the wear that showed in his stance. The exhaustion and defeat that seeped into his stance let her know she had figured him out to an extent. "I-I won't stand for someone I help to s-still be hurt even if I h-help them." She said and she heard his desperate chuckles, they sounded filled with despair, they sounded defeated. "You're just like her." He said and she could hear the pain in his voice. "You're n-not physically hurt... I know this." She whispered and his head jerked up at her.

Her hands were fisted over her chest, her eyes avoiding him, and her was lip trembling. "The worst pain is the one that won't go a-away..." She whispered and he made a move to sit at the base of the tree. "I know t-that you force yourself to talk and act that w-way... Losing someone changes people..." She whispered and he jerked to look up at her once more. "I see you know despair as well..." He said and his voice was different, deeper and harsher.

"You realize I cannot let you go unsupervised now, correct?" He asked and she watched as he pulled one leg up so he could rest his arm on it, while the other rested limply against the leg that was stretched out on the ground. She had smiled. That was how she had handled his threat, as she knew it was just that, a threat. That fifth meeting had been scary, but she got used to how he really was, and it didn't faze her anymore. It hadn't bothered her that much in the beginning, her father spoke to her in the same harsh tone that he used.

:-:-:-:-:

That fifth meeting had led to many others. Nearly twenty five to thirty meetings later, she had truly begun to realize her feelings for this man were changing. She wondered if he felt the same way, although she doubted it nothing its ever a storybook life is it? "Tobi-kun!" She called and he appeared in front of her in a swirl, she had found that to be the most amazing thing she had seen. She smiled at him and he reached to trace his thumb over her cheek, the tips of his fingers falling over the side of her forehead and temple. She blushed, but followed him to the river as she always did.

She was curious as to why he always did that, he always had to caress her face in such a manner, as if he feared she wasn't really there... Sensing that was probably what it was, she had formed a habit of saying, 'I'm here' when he did so. She could see it visibly relieved him. He plopped down by the river and tossed his feet in with a content sigh. He still spoke in the 'Tobi' voice, but she didn't mind. She knew he had his reasons. "Tobi likes you, Bunny-Chan. You make the pain go away." He said and her eyes went wide, she started at him in shock.

Her hand found its way to the place over her heart, a blah dusting her cheeks. "Y-you make my pain g-go away too." She whispered and he ruffled her hair. She knew the way she felt for him, was much stronger than what she had ever felt for Naruto. She understood that, but she want going to confess that she loved a man she had met three months ago, and had yet to see his face. It wasn't until later that he allowed her to see his face, the encounter wasn't quite what either of them had been expecting.

She sat near their usual meeting place, but he had yet to show up. It was about a month after Pein had destroyed the village and the Kage were due for a meeting to discuss what to do with the Akatsuki soon. She had tried her best to save Naruto and she knew that she no longer loved the blonde like she once had, but she was not going to let him get hurt. She had gotten seriously injured, but her newly acclaimed brother was not going to get killed if she could do anything about it. Naruto had readily accepted her proposal of self acclaimed siblings, so they had been spending time getting to know each other over ramen. She flinched and placed her hand on her side.

Her side hurt still and she knew she shouldn't be out and about, she was still supposed to be in the hospital but she didn't feel like being secluded up in the tiny medical ward with the stench of sterile objects. Her thoughts drifted to Tobi. She hadn't spoken with him in about two Weeks, she was curious as to what he was doing and if he was alright. Her questions were answered when he showed up right in front of her. She squealed and fell into the water in her surprise. "Ohayo, bunny-Chan." He greeted and held out a hand to help her up. His stance changed from the leisure one, so she figured it was important. "Let's find a place further from the village today; I don't think they would like me being this close." He said in his real voice. If he was talking in that voice, then something must be bothering him.

She nodded with a smile a she followed him through the woods to the waterfall that was hidden in the depths of the woods. He sat by it and she watched as he dunked his toes into the water like he always did. It was like some sorry of old habit for him or something. She smiled and followed suit, placing her toes into the cold water. It was nearing October now and everything was getting colder. "Hinata." He said all of a sudden, breaking through the peaceful silence between them. She looked over at him and blinked curiously.

"Yes?" She asked and he faced the water for a moment then turned to look at her. "You know what I do, you know who I work with; and yet you stay by my side and help me when I fall... Why?" He said and she frowned. It was true, she knew he was in Akatsuki, she knew a lot of what he had done, she even knew that he had once trained under the real Madara Uchiha... She wasn't sure why she stayed, she wasn't sure why she wasn't scared of him... She wasn't even sure why she didn't hate him for knowing that Pein was going to attack and hadn't told her… She just didn't understand why she felt no negativity towards him, she only understood why she wanted to stay with him.

"I... I believe... that s-somewhere, deep down... There is something you know y-you can change about yourself to m-make your wrongs right..." She said asks fiddled her fingers. "I believe t-that there is a will to change within e-everyone, there just n-needs to be a little b-bit of a push to get them to s-see it." She said, but didn't lift her eyes from the water. She heard him move, so she looked over at him. He was rubbing his neck and looking at the ground. "Is there anything you would like to know about me?" He asked are she turned to smile at him lightly. "I don't need to know much more about you...Obito..." She said his name carefully, testing how it felt as it rolled off her tongue.

She never said his name, not because of him telling her she couldn't; because he had told her she was the only one who could. "Because... I'm in love with you already." She said softly and he laid back against the ground, not moving just staring at her. She turned to smile at him, it was a nervous smile and her stomach did flips; but she waited for him to say something. "You remind me so much of her... But you aren't her and it makes me wonder... I loved her..." He said and Hinata listened carefully.

"It makes me wonder if I was supposed to wait for someone else... I want to know... Can you still love me? Even like this?" He asked and she blinked as she heard the clasp of his mask come undone. Her heart raced as she moved closer to him. He had paused as he moved the mask to uncover the left side of his face. A light lavender ringed eye stared softly back at her from under a half opened eye, his emotions were unreadable. He was hesitant to move the mask away from the other side of his face, she was curious as to why, but as she reached up to push the mask further away, his ringed eye narrowed at her slightly. She was sitting on her knees beside him. She pulled her hand back and decided a different approach.

She smiled and laid herself out on the ground beside him and she rolled over on her side and carefully pulled the mask back over his face. She could tell he was surprised but all she did was smile at him. "If you think I would leave because of something of appearance, then don't show me." She said and his hand moved back to his mask. He was less hesitant this time. "I want to see if you will stay." He said and removed the mask fully. Her eyes softened as he revealed his scarred face to her. It looked as if it had taken a very long time to try to heal, so she could tell it had been a very bad injury.

He had rolled over into his side to face her, his hand keeping his hair from getting in the dirt. His eyes were mismatched and he sighed as they slid shut and he reached for his mask once more. He made a move to slide it back on but soft fingers gently pushed it away and pressed themselves to his cheek. His eyes were wide as she looked over him with curiosity glazed eyes. "It doesn't make you feel any different?" He asked and she smiled at him. "No... It actually makes you d-defined. M-makes you one of a kind." She said and his lips twitched up a bit, it wasn't quite a smile.

She could tell he didn't smile a lot, he had defined lines signing he frowned more them he should. He rolled towards her and she blushed as he ran his thumbs over her cheeks before he stood. "I'm still here..." She whispered as she leaned up towards him. He helped her to her feet and was a bit surprised when she hugged him. "I'm still here." She said once more and he nodded and wrapped his arms around her shoulders lightly. "I need to go, but I arm unsure of when I will return." He said she nodded as she stepped away from him. "I understand, I have to go as well, father may be looking for me. I should still be in the hospital." She said and he had furrowed his brow at her in a slightly scolding manner before he nodded, and ran his thumb over her cheek once more before he vanished once more.

She hadn't realized then that he was headed off to crash the kage summit, nor did she know that he was declaring war as well... he hadn't told her these things. So, when she had seen him standing there, beside the real Madara; she was betrayed, hurt, and lost. She didn't know what to do… What could she do?

He stared right at her now, she could see it despite the fact no one else could. She knew he was watching her, observing her as she watched him kill off the people nearest her, but not hitting her; he would never hurt her. Her eyes shook with fear and betrayal; her limbs trembled and betrayed her as she took fearful steps backwards, away from his gaze; away from the people piling up near her. The man beside him looked from him to her with a curious gaze. "So she was the one who had caused you to go astray? She's just a child..." The older man said and Hinata turned to look at Naruto.

He was staring at her with wide eyes, along with her father and Neji. The Juubi had sent out some preliminary spikes, seeing how many it could take out with one sweep. They had fought with the Juubi and they thought they had had it down... But it broke free... And it had begun sending tailed beast bombs all over the place, no one had really realized what it had been trying to do until it had killed the intelligence unit... but not before Shikaku and Inoichi got one last message out to the group. The Juubi released this horrid animalistic laugh and reared back for a pinpoint attack once more.

Then she heard Obito speak once more and her adrenaline went into overdrive. She ran around in front of her best friend/ Self acclaimed sibling, she was going to protect him with her life. She saw how this had affected Obito as his eyes went wide before she spun on her heel and squeezed her eyes shut, her arms outstretched to protect Naruto. She had waited for the hit to come but it never did. She never felt the pain of the hit that had threatened her, she hadn't quite understood why, until Neji fell to his knees behind her. That was when it had clicked.

The tears were suffocating her, her throat wouldn't open and she couldn't breathe because it all hurt too much. "Naruto, I thought you said you wouldn't let any of your friends die..." He said and Hinata managed to look up at him. She then looked at Naruto and he looked about to give in with every word Obito spoke. This was her fault... If she hadn't saved him...there would be no Obito... Neji would still be alive... This was all her fault... "Hinata-Chan." Obito called out and she looked up at him. His eyes held a pleading look she had never seen there before.

"Don't make me have to hurt you... I really don't want to..." He said, his deep voice sounded sincere. "Join me... Hinata... Please." He said, holding his hand out to her. "In another world... You can have everything... We could have everything... You could have everyone back... I can't go without you... don't make me do so..." He said, his voice slightly pleading, but still slightly monotonous all the same. "I saved you… Because I thought there w-was a chance… but now I s-see… I cannot go with you to a world that isn't real!" She sobbed and he looked a bit surprised. "I see..." He mumbled softly his eyes drooping slightly.

Hinata turned to Naruto and had begun trying to get through to him. His eyes were dulled over and he wouldn't respond to her, her just held Neji, tears in his eyes. He looked as if he was going to give up, so she did what made perfect sense. Her hand connected with his cheek and he looked up at her. The tears that flowed over his cheeks mirrored hers. "Don't give in… If you do, then what Neji died for will be nothing. As you already know, we are all willing to die for you. Don't let our deaths be in vain. We need you." She said, her voice was strong, but the trembles in her voice weren't unnoticed. He nodded and she smiled through her pain, through her tears.

A lot was going on around her and she couldn't quite figure out what to do, but Naruto grabbed her hand and it all became clear, she needed to fight to help him. His chakra flowed over her and she watched as he took off, touching everyone he went past, and they touched one another. He was spreading the chakra about, just as Shikamaru's father had explained to do. She felt the confidence of the people start to heighten. Her eyes landed on Lee, who was crying while holding Neji. She clenched her hands over her chest, the pain of losing him was too much, but she was not going to lose anyone else. They all worked together to attack the Juubi, but that was all in vain as Obito sealed the beast within himself.

she helped fight to return him to what he had been before. She understood that he was trying to prove something to Madara now, but she wasn't quite sure what. But even after all that... All the horror, death, and betrayal... that he had forced her to endure, forced her to witness… she still did what her heart said to do when she had seen Kakashi lunge for him. There she lay, her body protecting his Kakashi's hand centimeters from her back. She could feel the electricity spark off onto her back. Minato held Kakashi's wrist.

Kakashi's eyes were wide as he stared at Hinata. "Don't kill him...please..." Hinata said softly pleading tears forming in her eyes. Minato and Kakashi exchanged glances. "Hinata..." Obito began and she looked at her hands. This is what happens when you associate yourself with the wrong people...when you save a stranger... "You killed my cousin...and I will never forgive you for that...but I know you know… there is more you can do to save us." Hinata said and sat back on her feet facing away from him.

"There is..." He said and she turned to look at him. "I will fix this..." He said, his eyes never leaving hers. He held his hands up in an unfamiliar pose. "Rinne- rebirth." He said and a black thing took over half of his body. She fell back on her hands with fear in her eyes. Kakashi grabbed her and pulled her away from him. She saw the creature coat Obito halfway. It spoke on its own and had already begun to take control of his body. His Sharingan eye drooped closed slightly and she bit her lip and reached out to him, her tears falling even faster than before. "O-obito..." She called out, her eyes watering and her lips trembling as he stood to his full height now.

She struggled weakly against Kakashi, trying to get to Obito, to see if he was still ok. "Hinata." Kakashi ground out, but she struggled still. "Something isn't r-right I h-have to talk to him, I have to make sure he is-" she began but he clamped his grip on her tighter. "Miss Hyuuga... That isn't Obito anymore..." Minato said and her hair fell to cover her eyes as she hid her tears from the world. Kakashi patted her back lightly as he set her on the ground so she could stand on her own two feet when she was ready.

She cried as she watched Kakashi and Minato fight with the controlled Obito. Despite everything he had done, her heart still raced when he looked at her. Despite him causing her so much pain, she still loved him. When she finally stopped crying, she felt something was off so she activated her byakugan and turned to see Naruto falling from the sky, at first she couldn't understand why. It didn't click fully within her mind until he was face down in the dirt, just as Sasuke was nearly a hundred yards away, just as Obito was lying on the ground a few feet away, his life fading as well. Chills fell down her spine and her eyes went wide. "N-na-Naruto..." She managed to stammer as she watched all the kyuubi chakra fade from around the others. "O-Obito…" she stammered lightly and her hands fisted in her ground as she stood and stumbled forwards.

"Hinata..." Obito called to her weakly, but it didn't register until he called for her louder, and it wasn't Obito, but Kakashi yelling out to her as she fell to the feet of the man in front of her, Madara Uchiha. She looked up at him and he looked down at her with interested eyes. "You… You took them from me…" she said, her voice broken and he smirked. "Took who from you? Hm? That useless man laying back there that I used to revive myself? The ignorant blonde who wouldn't give up? Your cousin? Who?" he asked and she tossed her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs, the reality of everything hitting her hard.

He crouched in front of her and she looked up at him weakly, her sobs becoming nonexistent as her eyes became hollow. "You stole everything away… They Kyuubi from Minato-san… Naruto-kun… Obito…You took everything from me… I will find a way to stop you." she whispered and he smirked wickedly. "Just as well. If you think you can stop me, then let me at least give you a fighting chance. It would be no fun if I killed you, you will just see that despair is going to consume you and you will have no choice but to join me." He said and a swirling vortex similar to that of Kamui opened. Obito's Sharingan eye went wide as Madara kicked Hinata into the vortex.

"Hinata!" she heard him yell her name as she vanished completely.


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata pushed herself off the ground, her entire body hurt and she had no idea where she was. She pushed herself off the ground and she groaned as she did so. She stood and looked around, then she looked down, and screamed. She looked over her hands and the rest of her body. She rushed into the village, everything seemed a bit newer than it did in her time. "W-what did he do to me?" she asked and his words echoed in her mind. "Let me give you a fighting chance." He had said. He had said it as if she weren't going to accomplish anything.

"So… where am I then?" she whined and looked around. A white haired boy caught her eye and her jaw slackened a little. "Oh… my… Kami…" she whispered as she realized exactly who he was, Kakashi Hatake, as a little kid! She walked over to him and tapped him on the arm, another girl their age stood there as well and she beamed at Hinata. "Oh! Hey! You're the new kid aren't you!" she exclaimed and Hinata blushed lightly. "Yes…" she said softly, unsure of if she should have touched Kakashi at all, his glare was focused on her.

'Wait? New kid?' Hinata was baffled. "Ano, Hinata-san, right? The brown haired girl asked with a smile and Hinata nodded. "Yes." Hinata said and she grinned. "You will be in the academy class with us." She said and Hinata blinked. "Academy…" she choked on the word. Not again… "Hopefully she won't be like dobe and always be late." Kakashi scoffed. They all walked towards the building, and went inside. She looked around and was surprised to see all of her jonin teachers there, but as children. Kurenai ran over and grinned at her.

"Hello! I'm Kurenai Yuuhi!" she greeted and Hinata smiled. "Hello." She saw Asuma, Genma, Izumo , Kotetsu, Gai, and Iruka sitting across the classroom from her. Kotetsu rushed over and began talking animatedly to her, apparently new students this late in the year was odd. Izumo walked over as well and began scolding his best friend about pummeling her with questions, but Kotetsu and he started arguing over seemingly nothing and she sighed. She decided that those two would work this out and then they could all get back to doing whatever they had been doing before.

She watched as her hair fell over her shoulders and reached her waist, the fourteen year old was surprised that her hair was still this long. Someone tapped her shoulder and she looked, Kotetsu was looking at her oddly at her while Izumo was glaring at his friend, Kakashi had been the one who had tapped her shoulder. "He was talking to you…" Kakashi said and Hinata blinked.

"Oh… yeah… I'm sorry I was going to wait until you were done bickering like children." She said softly with a smile and Kakashi chuckled under his mask, the Brown haired girl, who she now knew as Rin giggled at Kotetsu's exasperated look. "I told you she has no interest in you." Izumo laughed and Kotetsu looked deflated. "Ano… sorry, Kotetsu-san…" she said, feeling slightly bad that she had ignored the syrup loving kid. The teacher walked in and everyone rushed back to their seats.

"Oh! I see our new student has arrived! Would you please stand and tell us about yourself?" he asked and she nodded with a slight blush. She stood and all eyes were on her, as if that made her any less nervous…

"I love cinnamon rolls… I… I really don't like bean paste or anything bitter…" she trailed off with a disgusted look on her face and the teacher smiled at her. "What are your goals, dreams, and things of the sort?" he asked and she looked at her hands. Obito's face flashed within her mind and she almost felt like crying… what was going to happen to him? Where was he now? In her time, was he dead? Her heart clenched painfully and she tightened her grip on her jacket sleeves.

"My goals…" she began and the class listened intently. "My goals are to protect a certain someone… because… I know that something bad is going to happen to him… I don't want him to get hurt…" she whispered and they looked at her oddly. "I understand you want to protect them, but how can you be sure something will happen to this person in particular? We are shinobi, accidents happen all the time." Her teacher asked calmly, truly curious as to what she would say. She fiddled with her fingers. "Because I know he is in danger and my heart won't let this feeling go…" she whispered and Her teacher nodded his head, while smiles were on everyone else's faces. They all knew what it felt like when you want to protect someone. "Thank you Hinata." The teacher said and she sat back down.

That was how her first day back in the academy had gone. It hadn't actually been that bad, so she hoped the next day would go just as smoothly. She slept out in the konoha forest near the training grounds that night.

She arrived at the academy the next day, only to see the words "Genin Testing Prep" written on the chalk board in all caps. She blinked and sighed, she really didn't want to go through with this again… she took a deep breath and walked into the classroom. The teacher nodded to her as she walked over and sat by Rin. The same seat as yesterday was empty as it had been yesterday

"I know you haven't been here long enough to study for the genin test, so I won't make you take it." he said and she stood. "I can take it! I promise I won't fail!" she said and he looked at her wearily. "If you think you are ready…" he sighed and began passing out packets. He handed her two instead of one. "I need you to give that to someone for me, Kakashi and Rin will let you know who it is…" he sighed, he obviously looked agitated about the missing person. "You will know him when you see him. He looks like an idiot." Kakashi sighed and Hinata smiled a bit, he reminded her a bit of Sasuke when he would talk about Naruto.

She looked around at all the familiar faces with a soft smile, she saw Sasuke's parents sitting together in a corner; Mikoto was talking animatedly with Fugaku and he would crack a tiny smile every now and again. Her parents and her friends parents were all older than she, Rin, Gai, Kurenai, and the other sensei were, a few years at most, they weren't there for the actual academy, they were just there because they had family members getting the details on their genin test prep. Hiashi wasn't there for his younger cousin.

When the older kids left the room the only ones there were Hinata, Kakashi, Rin, Kurenai, Asuma, and the other sensei. There were some other people there too but she didn't know who they were. Well she didn't until she spotted a girl in cargo shorts chomping on dango. Anko mitarashi. Anko spotted her and jumped from her seat and walked across the desks until she crouched in front of her. "Yo, newbie. Hang with me sometime and I think I can make you awesome." She said and tossed a dango at her. Hinata caught it, but when she looked up Anko was back on the other side of the room chowing down once more. Hinata was completely confused, Anko was so weird, even in her time she had thought the tomboyish woman was weird…

"Anko, stay in your seat until I say otherwise…" their teacher complained and Anko smirked at him. "Yeah yeah I get it, Because you're the boss man…" she grumbled and the teacher glared at her, obviously she cared very little for authority, even when she was younger…

"Alright everyone, now that you all have your preparation packets, you can leave." He said and everyone stood to leave. Hinata followed Kakashi and Rin out and they were the last to leave. Kakashi just kept walking, but she figured he wasn't a very sociable person. Another kid with spiky black hair wearing orange and black clothing and goggles ran up as everyone was leaving, his excited grin fell into a frown right away.

She felt sorry for the kid. "Looks like you were late again, Dobe." Kakashi said and the kid glared at him. He looked towards them and Hinata blushed lightly, he was actually kind of cute. "Oh! Obito!" Rin called out and Hinata's mind went blank… Obito… the black haired kid turned towards her and grinned as she waved. "This is Hinata, she has something for you…" Rin said and Obito looked at her. Hinata blushed and a faint blush covered his cheeks as well.

She held the envelope out to him and he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Ano… Uh… thank you Hinata-san…" he said and she smiled at him. "Not a problem, Obito-kun." She said and he looked at her oddly, it wasn't a bad type of odd look it was more of a confused one. He took the envelope and she smiled at him again, trying to hold her blush back, but it wasn't working very well. Rin began talking to Obito and Hinata saw how he brightened up ten times more talking to her, than he had been talking to her.

Her heart fell and a frown crossed her lips, so this was the Rin he loved… she folded her hands behind her back and held the envelope there as she walked away. She felt someone watching her and turned to see Rin looking at her with a frown on her normally smiling lips, she looked over to Obito and he looked about as clueless as Naruto had been all through academy years. Her heart sank and she continued to walk away, so that… Was Rin Nohara…

Hinata found somewhere out in the forest surrounding konoha to rest for the night, there was no way she was going to ask someone for a place to stay. She read over her prep and was disgusted with how simple the stuff was. Clones? Henge? Kunai accuracy? So simple… But then again she had been a chunnin and pretty close to getting jonin where she was from… she heard a noise and decided to investigate. This felt familiar. 'thud' thunk' thunk' thunk' "Ah Dammit!" she blinked as she rounded the tree and saw Obito there struggling with his kunai.

She frowned, he was going to be one who was going to have trouble with that part… "Ano… Obito." She called out and he jumped and turned around to look at her. He looked visibly upset. "Are you alright?" she asked and he nodded wiping his eyes from under his goggles. "I just got dust in my eyes is all, training hard gets the dust moving." He said and she smiled a bit. "I see…" she said softly and he grinned, although the slight redness of his eyes didn't hide the fact that he had been crying.

"Who are you anyways?" he asked and she smiled. "I'm the new student. I will be taking the genin test with you tomorrow." She said and he nodded, the eagerness fading from him completely. "Would you like some help?" she asked and he shook his head. "No! I couldn't ask you to help me! its alright. If I'm going to be Hokage, I have to do it all by myself." He said and she smiled. "Hokage need some help at times too you know." She said softly and he blushed lightly. "Well I will be the one that won't." he said and she smiled. 'he wanted to be Hokage… That was his dream…' she thought her heart fluttered at the thought, she wanted to help him accomplish that dream…

"Good luck, Obito-kun, if you need me, just call for me, alright?" she asked and he gave her a haughty look, but as she turned away she saw him sigh, a blush dusting his cheeks. She smiled as she made her way over to a secure looking tree and she climbed into the parted roots and she lay there and went to sleep.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Obito sighed and calmed his racing heart, girls… they did the weirdest things to his heart. No other girl had ever made him feel that choked up and nervous but Rin, and now this girl… Hinata. She was nice to him, unlike Kurenai. He thought that over and an irritated look crossed his face. Kurenai was awful to him, she would hit him at every chance she got, whether he had said something to her or not. But this new girl seemed to genuinely want to help him. She was pretty too.

He walked home with a goofy grin on his face, his family thought nothing of it since they always saw the same goofy grin. The black sheep among the Uchiha, that's what he was called. He was out of place, reckless, weak, looked down upon. He knew he was, but that only reinforced his dream of being Hokage. He grinned and headed straight for his room, where he flopped onto his bed and went to sleep.

…

He woke up the next morning and got ready. He took off running towards the academy and when he got there he saw both of them talking, Rin and Hinata. Kakashi watched him with a bored look. Rin grinned and waved him over. That was why he loved her, she cared for him, she treated him like she truly wanted to be around him, and her smile… it was contagious. He grinned and ran over, Hinata blushed and looked at her feet, he really wasn't used to people doing that…

"Hey Hinata-chan!" he greeted and she blushed darker. "Hello Obito-kun." She greeted softly fiddling with her fingers. He watched her curiously, then… he decided that it was cute when she was all flustered and shy like that. He began talking with Rin, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She made him wonder about her… what she was really like, was she really as nice as she played it off to be? He heard them call her name for her turn to take the test and she blinked and walked over to the testing area. Everyone watched the others as they took their test, no one knew who would fail, but they could all see how the others made mistakes and they could learn from them.

"Clones. As many as you can." The teacher said with a small smile and Hinata furrowed her brows. "Any type of clone will do." He added and she sighed. "Are you sure? As many as I can?" she asked and he nodded. She frowned but nodded and she flew through the hand signs for some sort of clone. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" she exclaimed and twenty five shadow clones stood around her. Her teacher dropped his pen in shock. "Where did you learn that jutsu?" he asked and her eyes went wide, Obito was curious as to why she would get into trouble for that jutsu...

She shrugged lightly and the teachers furrowed their brows. "Will we have to contact your parents?" they asked and she looked at her feet. "I have no parents…" she whispered and they exchanged glances. Obito felt sorry for her just then, he hadn't known anything about her and to find that she was alone… it made him feel bad. "Alright, we will speak with the Hokage about you using this jutsu and we will see what he wants to do about it." their teacher said and her clones vanished. "Now… choose someone in your class and henge into them. She looked over each one of them and furrowed her brows. He could tell she wasn't really looking at them too much.

She didn't need to look at them, it looked like she already knew who she was going to henge into. "Ok!" she said and performed the henge seals. Her hair became shorter and spikier, her image blurred and an exact copy of himself stood in her place, she grinned and gave him a thumbs up. He blushed a bit and looked away in embarrassment. "I know you can do it, Obito-kun." She said as she dispelled the henge. He scratched his head nervously and watched as she hit every one of the targets with expert skill.

He paled, he wasn't going to hit a single on of targets and he already knew it. he sighed as they called his name. The clones were easy, and so was the henge, he had turned into Rin and she smiled at him, while Hinata looked at her toes with a saddened look on her face. She wasn't looking at him but he could see it. Girls… they confused him more than anything. He took a deep breath and threw a shuriken, it hit the target, but wasn't dead center like Kakashi's had been.

He didn't care, he was hitting the targets! He grinned and continued to throw until he had hit all the targets. He grinned and his teacher smiled back at him, proud he had actually hit the targets for once and not another student. Hinata was smiling at him again and he felt that odd feeling in his stomach again, it was weird he never felt this way when it came to Rin, he supposed she just made him nervous. He grinned as they had all gone to go get lunch together, Kakashi sat at the very end and Rin sat beside him, so Obito sat on Rin's other side. Hinata didn't follow them though, she just went on her own way.

He watched as she walked down the street all by herself, she looked happy enough… he didn't figure that she was really as happy as she put off to be though… he looked to his friends who had been talking to him and he grinned. "Uh, sorry I was just thinking about something." He laughed and Kakashi scoffed loudly. "You and thinking should never go in the same sentence. Obito glared at him and Rin sighed. "Boys, please… we get to find out who our squads are tomorrow! Lets rejoice that we made it!" she said and Obito smiled. "Sure thing!" he cheered and Rin grinned at him.

"I wonder where Hinata is going…" Obito mumbled and the other two leaned back to look and see her walking towards the Hokage tower. "I think she got in trouble for the jutsu she used earlier…" Rin said with a frown and Kakashi nodded. "It was a forbidden jutsu, but it's the first time I have ever seen it. it equally distributes your chakra into every one of your clones. And whatever they learn, you learn when they are dispelled." Kakashi said and Rin looked at him like he was the smartest person in the world, it made Obito sick that she would look at Kakashi that way. There was no doubt he was jealous.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata sighed and made her way up the steps of the Hokage tower, she could remember these stairs very well. She traversed them a lot in her training with Tsunade. She reached the top and walked around the circular hallway and knocked on the door she knew was the Hokage office. "Come in." the voice of the third Hokage rang out. She gently pushed open the doors and walked inside. "Ah, the Hyuuga girl." He said and she fiddled with her fingers.

"I understand you know a certain forbidden jutsu that isn't one children your age should know…" he said and she nodded. "I know a lot of jutsu…" she said softly and he furrowed his brows. "I have no idea who you are, where you came from, and what you are doing here, but I would like to ask… were you born here?" he asked and she nodded. "Yes… but…" she bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers. "But what, dear?" he asked, he was trying to be fatherly, but she didn't think he would believe her.

"This isn't the real me…" she said and he furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?" he asked and she fiddled with her fingers more. "I don't want to change anything… but… this is the real me." she said and henged into what she had looked like before Madara had pushed her through the vortex. "But I am trapped in this body… I'm not from this time… this man…" she said and henged into Madara. "Pushed me through this time space vortex thing and I ended up here like this…" she said and released the henge.

"That is very interesting indeed…" he said and she could tell he didn't believe her. "Please believe me… I was a chunnin, I had gotten recommended for jonin, but I never got to go through with the jonin… Madara Uchiha… he sent me here challenging me to fix what he is going to mess up…" she said and the third nodded. "Keep this to yourself, I am going to do some research, but in the mean time… I want you to keep this under lock and key, got it?" he asked and she nodded.

He smiled and nodded. "But first, I want to let you know, if your skills prove to be on par with a jonin, you will excel quickly. Now I want you to go meet with your team that I am personally recommending you to. You won't meet them today, but tomorrow morning first thing you will." He said and she nodded with a smile. "Thank you…" she said and sighed as she walked out of the office. "Oh, and Hinata… I would like for you to stay in this place, alright?" he said and tossed her keys.

She caught them and smiled gratefully. "Thank you." She said as she rushed out the door and down the street. She rounded a corner and collided with someone. They made an oomph noise as she landed on them. "Gomenaisai!" she squealed and opened her eyes to see who she was face to face with, or well, face to goggles with. She blushed a deep red and scrambled backwards. "I'm sorry!" she squealed again as he stood up. She saw that he was blushing too, and darkly at that. "Uh… it's ok! Really…" he said but the blush didn't fade from either of their faces. "Well, Oyasumi, Obito-kun I have to go now…" she said and he nodded, he watched as she took off towards the apartment complexes.

He looked down at his hand with a blush. "That was purely accidental…" he mumbled and Kakashi snorted as he walked by him. "You're such a pervert Obito… grabbing on a girls chest cause she trips…" Kakashi scoffed and Obito glared at him. "I said it was accidental dammit!" he growled and Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that, you wanted to cop a feel cause she has more boobs than Rin." Kakashi said and Obito glared at his back. "What the hell! What are you staring for!?" Obito yelled and Kakashi shrugged. "Its what guys do…" he said simply and Obito deadpanned at him. "Pervert." He grumbled and turned to walk away but Kakashi had stopped.

"Says the one who actually grabbed her." "It was a damn accident!" Obito yelled and Kakashi shrugged again before walking off. "Stupid jerk!" Obito growled as he shoved his hands into his pockets and returned home as well.

:-:-:-:-:

Hinata woke to a knock on the door and grinned when she opened it. the man at the door smiled at her lightly, he was a tall blonde man who seemed younger than he looked. "Ano… Hinata Hyuuga right?" he asked and she nodded. "Ok good, I was worried I had the wrong person." He said and she smiled brighter. "Meet at this training ground, we will introduce you to your new team, it's going to be a little weird because its not a normal group, but I think things will work out fine." He said and she nodded and took the paper from him.

He waved and left. She ran back into her room and changed from her baggy khaki jacket and blue capris into something that felt more for the occasion. She wore a tight black sleeveless shirt, black pants that were a little tighter than she would have liked, and a dark grey coat that was a tiny bit baggy, but not overly so. She attached her medical pouches to her hips, while her kunai and shuriken pouches were secured to her thigh. On the back of her silverish grey jacket there was the Hyuuga symbol outline, it was solid black. Her jacket wasn't really a full jacket, it was short and reached below her ribs so she could have easy access to her medical pouches. She pulled on knee high flat bottom boots like Sakura wore.

The change in her attire felt nice, a new start she guessed. A new start for him as well… she was going to save him. She looked at the training ground number and smiled. "Alright! Here I go!" she said and took off out the door. She got to the training grounds, but there was no one there. she frowned thinking she had the wrong number and she felt a chakra pulse as she jumped backwards and skid away from the person who had lunged at her.

The yellow flash shot by her again and she lunged forward at just the right moment to send her smaller leg into his, and send him stumbling. He managed to grab his footing and he grinned as he scratched the back of his head. "You're better than I thought… I guess that's what I get for not believing the Hokage." He chuckled and she blushed. "Gomen sensei!" she squealed as the rest of the team dropped from the tree. "Hinata-chan!" Rin chirped and Hinata grinned at her and hugged her friend. "Hi, Rin-chan!" she greeted. Obito just stared at her in disbelief. This was going to be more trouble than its worth, Minato could already tell.

"So you are our fourth member?" Kakashi asked and Hinata nodded. He didn't seem to like the idea, but she figured he was just grumpy again. "Yes, although odd and very out of the ordinary, the Hokage sees great promise in all of you and he wanted me to personally make sure you meet his standards. But first… we will all introduce ourselves since I don't really know any of you. And then I have something else for you all." He said and the group nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata sat in the group circle with the rest of her teammates, Minato stared at them with a weird look, obviously he wasn't very sure he could deal with the four of them. Minato looked from one kid to the other. His eyes landed on Hinata and he furrowed his brows, he had been given the full intel on who she was, where she was from, and supposedly how she had gotten here. "I'm curious about you all, I have no idea who you are personally, I just know what your names are and that's it. I'm going to ask a few things of you and then I have something else for us to do." Minato said, an unsure smile crossing his lips.

Hinata watched him intently; she figured that he knew; seeing as he spoke to Lord third. "First off, I want to know all about you. I will start… My favorite things are… My wife, Kushina. Ramen, Jiraiya-sensei, and the color red. My dislikes are… Bamboo shoots in my ramen." He said this with a disgusted look on his face and Hinata and Rin giggled. Kakashi rolled his eyes and Obito grinned. "My dreams are to have a happy life with Kushina and make her the happiest woman alive." He said with a grin and Hinata smiled softly, but inside her heart dropped in sadness, he wouldn't get that for very long… "I would tell you about my jutsu, but then I would be ruining the fun." He said with a grin, scratching the back of his neck; a habit she knew would pass on to Naruto.

"You Hinata, I want to know about you." He said and she blinked, why did she have to go first? She fiddled with her fingers slightly and glared at her fiddling fingers, she thought she had rid herself of that habit. "Um, I like cinnamon rolls and sweet things… I dislike bean paste and bitter things… I also dislike people who endanger my friends…" she said and Minato nodded a smile crossing his lips. "My goals are to protect a certain person… he is my friend and I would never want anything t-to happen to him…" she said and Minato must have caught her glance at Obito because he blinked and a grin broke out over his lips.

"I possess jutsu that no one my age can use… and I have experience in medical skills and elemental…" she tried to keep her abilities as vague as possible, it would be questioned as to how she had trained with Tsunade when Tsunade doesn't even know she exists yet… Minato already knew that she possessed such unknown jutsu, but didn't pry much onto it. she listened to Rin, who claimed to like someone in the group and Obito grinned like a fool; Hinata sighed and Obito looked at her and grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't be so down Hinata-chan! We all got grouped up together!" he said with a grin and she smiled, despite the blush of embarrassment on her face. Kakashi shook his head and she frowned at him, apparently he didn't think much of Obito… she listened as Rin said she had medical skills too, Hinata wondered just how good she was with her medical skills… she was admittedly jealous of the brunette. Kakashi started speaking and everything he said was vague, so Minato gave him an exasperated look.

"So basically the only thing we learned about you is that you can't stand Obito…" he sighed and Obito glared at Kakashi. They got all in each other's personal space and were about to start arguing when Rin grabbed Kakashi and Hinata pulled Obito back by his goggles ( which had been the only thing she could grab as he had lunged for Kakashi), which… when she let go of them, they snapped back and smacked him in the face. He held his face whimpering in pain. Hinata jumped over and began apologizing profusely. "Sorry Obito-kun!" she squealed and he rubbed his face with both hands rapidly. Kakashi was laughing which was a bit of a surprise, Minato had his face in his hands trying not to either laugh or pull his hair out because of his rowdy group, and Rin sighed and let go of Kakashi.

Hinata managed to get Obito's hands away from his face and she pushed the goggles up and noticed a bruise already starting to form around his eyes. Her hand began to glow green and she placed her hand over his eye and the bruise began to fade. "Sorry…" she said when she removed her hand he blinked a few times and looked at her. "Whoa!" he exclaimed and touched his face. "It doesn't even hurt anymore!" he exclaimed and Kakashi's eyes narrowed, there went his fun…

Rin stared at her in awe. "Whoa Hinata-chan! I can't even heal like that yet! Neither can my mom, and she is a medic!" she said and Hinata blushed. Minato nodded. "That is a highly valuable skill, very few medics have actually perfected it, but since you Hyuuga seem to have such incredible chakra control; it must be easy for you to heal so easily." Minato said and she shook her head. "It is actually very hard to learn… Shishou was brutal… unforgiving…" Hinata cringed as she said that and Minato blinked. "You mean-" he was asking and she nodded. Even Minato cringed then. The other three students were curious, but if they weren't going to elaborate, then it would be rude to ask.

"Alright, since I know a little more about everyone… Ahem… except Kakashi…" Minato said with a friendly smile, but Kakashi only raised a brow at him. "I want you all to henge into what you think you will look like when you get older, about my age per say…" he said with a shrug and Hinata looked at him oddly, which he just grinned about. "Hinata, you first." He said and she sighed… again…

Shen henged into what she looked like during the shinobi war. The green vest and the standard jonin attire. Kakashi scoffed and she frowned at him. "How do you think you know what you will look like. You won't even know what rank you will be, its useless to show something that won't be a reality." He said and she frowned at him as she released the henge. "I know more than you do…" she whispered and he rolled his eyes.

Minato was sure of something now, she could see it in his eyes. She watched as Obito did the same as she did, but he was donning Hokage robes, and looked just like himself with a grin on his lips, goggles pushed up onto his forehead. Hinata smiled sadly and looked at her hands. He changed back and Rin followed suit. She had the same shoulder length brown hair and facial markings, but she looked like a brown haired Sakura, the same type of outfit, just different colors.

"Alright, now for the final test, since Kakashi refuses to cooperate." Minato sighed and pulled out three bells. Hinata had seen this before, Naruto had told her about Kakashi giving him the same test. She grinned and Minato watched her oddly. "You all have until lunch to get one of these bells, or you don't eat." He said and she nodded. "Teamwork is key!" he said and they all nodded as he vanished. Kakashi just stood there, waiting.

Hinata wondered what the others were going to do, none of them had moved yet. She sighed and activated Byakugan. She scanned the area and when she found him, she placed her hands behind her back and performed the shadow clone jutsu. Her clone teleported away and she clapped her hands together. "Obito, use fire style!" she said and took a deep breath. Obito did so as well, without hesitation. He was going to work with her since it appeared that no one else was going to do anything. He released the massive fireball and he watched to see what she was going to do. She blew wind in a straight visible line towards the fireball and it burst and engulfed a large area of the forest.

A yellow blur shot past them out of the burning trees, that was the moment when Hinata saw the odd kunai in the ground. She nodded towards Obito, Kakashi, and Rin, and they took off towards the kunai from all directions. Minato appeared there and Kakashi was the first to strike, Rin and Hinata tag teamed and aimed punches at both sides. Minato jumped to avoid their hits and Obito and Kakashi appeared above him and both attempted to kick him back down but he back flipped out of the way and he landed on the ground, but something brushed past his side and Hinata tossed the bells to the group.

He was admittedly impressed with the amount of cooperation between his bickering disciples. "Great job everyone! You passed my expectations!" he cheered and they all grinned, except Kakashi of course; who instead rolled his eyes as if he knew he was going to succeed in the first place. An Anbu appeared before Minato and he blinked. "Gomen… sorry to interrupt your training, but Hokage wants to see you and the Hyuuga girl." The Anbu said and Minato nodded. Hinata followed after Minato as they walked away.

"What do you think they are hiding?" Rin asked and Kakashi shrugged, he didn't care. "Maybe they are trying to figure out where Hinata came from… she doesn't have parents…." Obito said with a frown and Rin looked at him and frowned. "Hopefully they can help her…" she whispered and Obito smiled at her, she always worried about others before herself. "Well while we wait on Hinata-chan to come back, why don't we go talk to the rest of our age group?" she asked and Obito shrugged, he didn't really like the idea, but if Rin was going, so was he.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata followed Minato right up the steps to the Hokage's office and she sighed. "Am I in trouble again?" she asked and Minato looked at her oddly. "Why would you be in trouble?" he asked and she fiddled with her fingers. "I'm always getting in trouble now… I am different… I can use jutsu people of my age group have never seen, nor heard of…" she said and he smiled. "Not different, unique and strong." He corrected and she looked at him oddly. "I don't understand why you would say that… you don't even know the full story of what happened…" she whispered and he laughed.

"I don't need to. That's the thing, if I see strength I'm going to acknowledge it. I'm not going to look over that strength and get angry with the person for proving they truly have someone to protect." He said and she smiled lightly. "I had no way to protect him before… he… he was almost lost when I found him…" she said and he eyed her curiously. "This person you are trying to protect… who is he?" Minato asked and she smiled softly. "Everyone. I'm trying to protect everyone, in my current age group, in your age group, in the children who aren't even born yet age group. Everyone." She said and he smiled at her.

"We are in war… it will be very hard to do that you know…" he said and she smiled sadly. "I know…" she said and she looked at him. "I've already fought in a war, and I lost everyone that ever meant anything to me. My cousin, my best friend who I considered a brother, I lost the one I loved… I know it sounds odd coming from a twelve year old, but the Hokage already knows my story and I am guessing you know some of it as well." She said and Minato nodded. "I may be blonde but I am not a dumb one." He chuckled and she smiled.

He opened the door to the Hokage office and she henged into her real form she felt more at ease when she looked like she really did, it kept her reminded that she was in fact as strong as she was. She wore the same outfit, and it felt comfortable. She crossed her arms and smiled. It felt good to be tall again, even if she was twelve again. "Hinata-san. Minato-san." The Hokage greeted and they bowed respectfully.

He sat at his desk, Jiraiya sat to his left curiously taking in the young Hyuuga woman. "She strikes an amazing resemblance to Hiashi and Hinori…" Jiraiya said and Hinata smiled, which only made Jiraiya grin. "Yes! That's who she looks like, that smile gives it all away. "She is my mother…" Hinata said and the room froze. Jiraiya furrowed his brow and studied her closely. "That's impossible, they just got married…" he said and she giggled. "Hinata Hyuuga, at your service." She said and the third smiled.

"Hinata, this is-" "Jiraiya-sensei." She said with a smile and the white haired sannin stared at her in surprise. "Extreme pervert extraordinaire." She giggled and Jiraiya was about to say something but Minato and the third laughed. "So Hinata… what can you tell us about your time?" the third asked and she looked down to her feet. "I have nightmares… every night… I-I… we… we lost everything…" she said, her voice trembling. She fisted her hands at her sides and tears filled her eyes. "Everyone… everyone… there was so much blood… so much death… I can't…" she said and turned and ran, her henge dropping in the process.

"Minato, follow her, make sure she's alright." The third ordered and he ran after her. "That's what the future holds? More war?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes downcast. "I'm not sure, but I would most definitely hope that things may differ this time around…" he sighed as Orochimaru walked in. "What did you say to the kid?" he asked, a slight humored tone to his voice. "Ah… it was an accident. We brought up bad memories…" the third sighed and Orochimaru shrugged as he left the room, the third was not going to inform the sneaky snake of the entire truth.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata couldn't keep the images out of her mind, they scarred her memory and the fact that everyone she know that dies is alive now, kills her inside because she can't tell them what to avoid without the possibility of changing the future differently than it should be. She wanted to make sure no one died, but at the same time she wanted to make sure Obito would be safe… that is extremely selfish… she hit her knees in an alleyway and couldn't go any further. She broke down and cried her heart out.

Her sobs echoed through the alley and she placed her hands over her ears. She continued to cry as the images flashed through her mind. 'Why…? Naruto-kun didn't deserve that… Obito-kun was trying to change… Neji-nii… Sasuke-san didn't deserve death either… no one did…' she thought as she sobbed into her knees, her hair fell around her like a curtain shielding her from the world. Her chest hurt and the images of Sasuke face down, his blood staining the war stained ground even worse than it already had been. She hadn't seen Sasuke fall, but she knew it had something to do with Madara.

Obito looked half dead standing there, the black creature controlling him. He looked like he had given in. she had seen all the pain, all the traces of anything just fell away like they had never been there. she had wanted to reach out to him, embrace him, tell him it was all going to be ok and that she was going to help him… 'can you love me… even like this?' that had been the most important question he had ever asked her. She wanted to hear him speak to her once more, even if it had to be that question, or even in that loving voice he had used when he had accidentally called her Rin. He had realized his mistake, but she still loved the way his voice sounded and it made her heart swell even if it hadn't been directed at her at first.

She wanted to feel his embrace one last time, once more… just so she would know he was still alive and there. She wanted to see Naruto's smile, she wanted to hear him talk again too, even if he had the mannerisms his mother had hoped he didn't end up getting. 'I'm going to be Hokage! Dattebayo!' he would have yelled that out with the brightest of smiles. He had been like a brother to her. He treated her like the best friend she had never had, and that he had never had.

'Because… because you called me a genius…' her lip trembled and another pained wail ripped from her throat. She understood that family had to protect each other, but if he hadn't sacrificed himself for her, she would have never had to see them all die. Not Sasuke, not him, not Naruto, not Obito… but she wasn't sure if Obito were actually dead, she could have sworn he had yelled for her when he had called for her when Madara had sent her through the vortex, but she wasn't sure.

She missed them, all of them. She even missed Sasuke, even if he had never been the nicest to her, she understood his pain to an extent when her mother had been killed on a mission. She could never compare her pain to his, but she knew how it felt to lose a parent. Someone's arms wrapped around her and she froze. The woman's voice sounded familiar and it struck something deep within her as her lips trembled once more.

"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'd never let you go. When all the shadows almost killed your light… I remember you said don't leave me here alone, but all that's dead and gone and in the past tonight. Just close your eyes, the sun is going down you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound." she sand and ran her fingers through Hinata's hair. 'M-mother…' her tears started up all over again, but no longer was she wailing like an injured cat, he sobs were silent as she embraced the woman who didn't know that in all reality, she was her mother.

She heard rapid footsteps and Minato rounded the corner. Hinata broke away from her mother, who let her go with a sad smile. Hinata then embraced her new sensei, who hit his knee and patted her on the back telling her it was going to be alright. "Thank you, Hinori-chan…" Minato said as Hinata's tears stopped and her crying stopped as well. He lifted Hinata up and carried her piggyback style. "It's no problem, Minato-kun. She looked like she needed someone… my mother used to sing to me when I would cry." Hinori said and brushed dark purple locks behind her ears with a small smile.

"Is she your new student?" she asked and he nodded. "The third placed her with me because he sees some talent in her and Kakashi. He believes they will do great things." Minato said and she smiled. "She appears to have gone through hell and back, well… goodnight, Minato-kun." She said and waved as she walked away to meet with her husband who was walking down the alleyway. Minato sighed as he looked at the tear stained girl on his back. "Kushina is going to have my head…" he sighed as he carried her to his home.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Obito ran down the alleyway, he could have sworn he heard Hinata crying. He searched all over the place but he couldn't find her. He ran right into a couple who were walking out of an alleyway. "Watch out kid." The man said and he rubbed his head as he stood. "Sorry… have you seen my friend?" he asked and the woman blinked. "I don't think so… sorry." She said and he sighed. "I could have sworn she was crying… she isn't at home…" he muttered and the woman blinked once more and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You mean Minato's blue haired student?" she asked and he nodded rapidly. "Yeah! That was Hinata!" he said and the woman smiled sadly. "The poor girl needs all the friends she can get, the heartbroken child…" she said and he looked at her in shock. "Where did Hinata-chan go?" he asked and the woman smiled. "Minato-kun took her to his home. I'm sure Kushina wouldn't mind another plate at the table tonight." The woman said and Obito bowed in thanks then took off running towards Minato's home.

He made it to the door and he knocked. Minato opened the door and was wearing an apron, flour all over him. "Oh! Obito! Is there something you need?" he asked and Obito tried not to laugh at his teacher, he looked so girly at the moment. Kushina had put a headband on him to keep his hair out of the food. Obito laughed and Minato went cross eyed looking at what Obito was laughing at. Minato blushed then swiped the headband off. "You never saw that." He said simply and Obito grinned. "Sure thing sensei." He laughed.

Minato moved to let the young Uchiha in and when he saw Hinata he bolted to her. His hands found their way to her face and he was looking at her closely. "You were crying… why?" he asked and she sniffled. "a lot of things…" she whispered and he got all in her face. "Don't push me away! We're friends remember?" he asked and she blushed lightly. "Yeah…" she said softly and he grinned and made a move to move away from her but Kushina bumped into him on accident and he fell forwards.

"Oh dearie me! sorry Obito!" she said and rubbed her neck, but giggled when she saw Minato's students. Obito had never let go of Hinata's cheeks and had fallen forward and ended up almost kissing her, his arms going right past her head they had been a little more than nose to nose. They could feel each others breath and then they shot apart. He pulled away and turned around in a crouched position on the floor with his hands over his face. Hinata's face had gone blood red and then her eyes rolled up, and with a thump she had fallen out in the floor. "Look what you did… you made him pout and her faint…" Minato sighed rubbing his eyes.

"I said I was sorry!" she snapped and Minato flinched away from her slightly with a fearful expression. "Sorry dear!" he managed and she hmphed and went back into the kitchen. He sighed in relief then stared at his pouting student and the other one on the floor. "Sometimes I wonder why I even chose to be a teacher…" he sighed and Obito looked up at him. "But others I am always reminded of how amazing of a teacher I had and I want to be that way for you all, even if you are annoying as all get out." He said and Obito grinned. "I make life fun." He laughed and Minato smiled at him. "You made Hinata faint. I wonder why… maybe you have bad breath." Minato shrugged with a smile as he walked into the kitchen where his spitfire wife was waiting on him.

"Obito-kun…" Hinata whimpered and he furrowed his brows as he walked over to her to help her off the floor. He realized she was still out, so he lifted her off the floor and placed her on Minato and Kushina's couch. She snuggled herself deeper into the couch and sighed in relief. "Arigato…" she whispered and he blushed lightly as he folded his hands behind his head and walked back over to the table. He looked over at her and sighed, he could see the tear stains all down her cheeks and he frowned. He knew all too well what it felt like to be all alone.

"Oyasumi, Hinata-chan…" he said and pulled a blanket from the open closet and covered her with it. "Are you staying for dinner Obito?" Minato asked and Obito shrugged. "I guess, but then I will have to go. I still have a curfew." He said then looked at the floor beneath his feet. "Although no one cares… they won't wait up for me…" he said and rubbed his eyes from under his mask. "They never waited up…" he whispered and shoved his hands into his pockets after he shoved his goggles onto his forehead.


	4. Chapter 4

Hinata sat on the bench in the middle of konoha, it was later on in the day and she was once again; all alone. She sighed and placed her elbow on her knees and her hands on her cheeks. There was nothing to do and she was bored. Obito and Kakashi were following Rin around and she wasn't going to sit by and watch as they ignored her like they did as of late she'd been here a little over a month and this is what was becoming of the squad, girl focused... She was starting to realize that the team was just Kakashi, Rin and Obito. She saw someone walking her direction and she pulled her legs in closer so they wouldn't be in the person's way.

She figured the person was just going to walk right past her, but they stopped and they sat by her. "You know I came a long way, just to talk to you." Her voice said and Hinata looked up at the woman. Her eyes went wide and she jumped up. "Tsunade-shishou!" she squeaked and the woman looked at her oddly. "That is weird, don't call me that." She sighed and looked over the blue haired girl. She was bowing in respect and her fingers were trembling. "Sorry…" she whispered and Tsunade smiled.

"Don't be, I'm just not used to being called such." She said with a smile and Hinata peered up at her. "So you trained under me huh? I'm curious as to what I could have possibly taught you, but I'm not going to pry. I want you to keep those abilities a secret and only… and I mean only if someone around you is in danger, do you use them. Do you promise?" she asked and Hinata smiled. "I won't have to use those abilities to protect him… I have others." She said softly and Tsunade smiled at the younger girl. "Good, a kunoichi should always have a secret weapon up her sleeve." She said and stood.

"Join me for lunch, if you don't mind." Tsunade said and Hinata fiddled with her fingers. "I can't drink though…" she said and a dark blush coated Tsunade's cheeks she was truly surprised. "A-ano… it gets bad… doesn't it?" she asked with a nervous laugh and Hinata nodded lightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude…" she said and Tsunade laughed. "Its no problem! I just wasn't expecting that…" she sighed and rubbed her cheek. "Well then I guess I will head on to go talk with gramps then." She sighed and Hinata giggled, Tsunade was using her to avoid the third… typical.

"Bye Tsunade-sama." She said and the blonde woman waved at her. Hinata sighed and walked down the walkway, swinging her arms back and forth by her sides. She felt bad, she was living it up in the past while everyone else was fighting for their lives. She hopped onto the fence and landed on the boards. She walked delicately across the thin boards, a small smile crossing her lips as she balanced herself.

She spun on her toes and jumped the junction of the fence where the fence squared off into the corner. In about three to four months, they would be taking the chunnin exams if Minato recommends them to do so. She was excited, but saddened all the same. She had already been a chunnin, and she wished she didn't have to take someone's place here to get chunnin again. She stumbled on the fence as someone appeared before her. "Minato-sensei!" she squealed and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan. But… the third wants to see you. Kakashi is there too." He said and she blinked. What was this about? "Alright." She said and dropped from the fence to take off running towards the Hokage office. She slowed to a jog as she entered his office. "Ah, Hinata-san, good to see you." He said and she smiled at him. Kakashi stood off to the right; his arms crossed over his chest as if he was bored and really didn't want to be there.

"As you both know, the chunnin exams are going to be going on in the next few months." He said and they nodded as Minato walked in as well. "But, by recommendation of your sensei, I am willing to promote you, here and now." He said and Hinata's eyes went wide. "But…" he began again. "I want you to prove to me that your skills are up to par. You are going to fight with Kushina and Mikoto. They will tell me if you deserve the title or not." The third said and Hinata nodded.

The two nodded and made their way out to the specified training field nearest the Uchiha compound. Mikoto and Kushina stood there, ready with their mission uniforms on. "So you are the two prodigies?" Mikoto asked and Hinata said nothing, Kakashi just shrugged. "Not very lively are they?" Mikoto sighed and Kushina laughed. "We will make them lively then." She said and they lunged. Hinata jumped back to avoid the older women that had aimed for her first.

Hinata dropped into the Hyuuga stance and activated Byakugan. "I won't fall for that, I fought with Hiashi for my jonin exam!" Mikoto said and Hinata nodded but sped forwards anyways, the woman delicately dodged every palm that came towards her with ease, but Hinata knew she hadn't gotten to see all the clan jutsu from one fight. "Twin lion fist!" Hinata yelled and the blue chakra engulfed her hands to her elbow. Hinata also kicked off the weights around her ankles and sped forwards. Mikoto blinked in surprise as Hinata gained on her.

Hinata continuously swiped at Mikoto until she had made the older woman lose her footing. Then Hinata slammed her lion fists into the ground. "Twin lion fist roar!" she said and chakra burst from the ground and chased after Mikoto. Mikoto flipped backwards into a tree and then jumped out of the tree when it had begun to crack as well. She glanced at Kakashi who was fending off Kushina's hits fairly well; she turned just in time to drop into a crouch to avoid Mikoto's foot. She jumped backwards and Kakashi followed suit.

They glanced at each other and then at the two women standing across the way. His hand sparked but she shook her head. "We aren't trying to kill them… just incapacitate." She said and his hand stopped sparking. "Then what do you suppose we do?" he grumbled and she looked towards the two women with furrowed brows. She mouthed one word and he nodded. They flew into similar hand signs and clones of them both appeared all over. The real Hinata and Kakashi slunk back into the crowd of clones and found a vantage point for when the two women were busy fighting off the clones, they would attack.

Hinata crouched in a tree and waited for Mikoto to lower her guard. Mikoto then looked around to see if any more clones were going to bum rush her. When they didn't she began looking for the real Hinata. "They have escape methods down pact." Kushina laughed and Mikoto nodded. "Escape is a coward's way out!" Kakashi said and came up from the ground and took Kushina down with the head hunter jutsu. He took a few steps back, expecting Mikoto to attack him, but she didn't.

Kushina was yelling loudly at Kakashi to try and get him to get her out of the ground, but her angered yells silenced when a shinobi from Iwa stepped out of the woods, appearing to be carrying Hinata by the back of her coat. Hinata looked up at them and motioned to where she really was with her eyes. None of them made any move to give her approval they got the message because it would alert the shinobi carrying her clone.

"Three girls and a little boy, not much of a problem..." the man muttered, a twisted smirk crossing his lips. More Iwa shinobi stepped out of the surrounding woods and they heard explosions in the distance, the first raid had begun… Kakashi's hand began to spark and the shinobi grabbed Hinata's clone by her hair and made a noise of disapproval. "If you come after me, I will kill her." He said and Kakashi sprung forwards.

"What do I care? If she isn't strong enough to protect herself, then she won't be a good shinobi!" he growled and the man stabbed the clone with a kunai, but she poofed away and the man looked surprised and shoved the man next to him. "I thought you said she wasn't a clone!" he yelled and the guy looked just as surprised. "I truly thought she was! Her chakra system looked weak!" he said and the man jumped back as two more clones of Hinata appeared and lunged for him.

Hinata showed no mercy towards the men who had attacked her. She sent one flying with an empty palm technique and the other with a swift ankle to the face. The real Hinata dropped down and dispelled all her clones. Her eyes flashed and she pinpointed the location of every other surrounding Iwa nin. There were ten more and they all rushed out from their hiding places. Hinata slid down into the Hyuuga stance and as every one of them rushed at her, she heard the three behind her talking.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Kushina asked and Kakashi shook her head. "She is strong enough, she can handle it." he said simply, there was very little emotion in it so it could have possibly been praise, or it could have been a belittlement, stating that if she couldn't handle them; then she wasn't as strong as she claimed to be. Either way, Hinata took it as a compliment from her stubborn and dismissive teammate. As she came across each of them, her hands struck hard and swiftly, she was at the end of the enemy shinobi group by the time the first one fell, the last one was done in by a chakra enhanced foot to the face, the rest by fatal jyuuken hits.

She stood up straight and dropped her leg as all the men collapsed. Kakashi raised a brow as if expecting she could have done that faster. She gave him a dirty look and he shrugged. "We should go help the others." Hinata said and pulled Kushina from the ground with ease. "Alright, Kakashi, you come with me, Hinata go with Mikoto." Kushina said as they split up. Mikoto looked at Hinata as they jumped through the trees to reach the left end of the village. "You are one strange young woman." Mikoto said with a smile and Hinata blushed lightly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be…" she said and Mikoto laughed. "It wasn't meant like that. What I mean is that you're awfully strong for your age. I have never seen someone your age so strong… its incredible." She said and Hinata looked down as they made their way back to the village.

"There are plenty of people stronger than I am… and they will become stronger than me in time… your children will be stronger than I will ever hope to be, that's just how things go, the youngest generations continue to get stronger and stronger." Hinata said softly and Mikoto smiled. "Well when I do have children I will be sure to let you meet them and you can tell them yourself, just how strong they will be." Mikoto said and Hinata smiled as well, Mikoto's smile was sincere and motherly.

"Alright then… I will take you up on that offer." She said and Mikoto hit the ground by the village side walls. "Well! Let's go!" she said and they took off running towards the middle of the village where Hinata had seen buildings burning. Hinata jumped atop the buildings and despite older shinobi telling her to go meet with the rest of her generation, she ignored them and her hands flew through seals. Her mouth filled with water and she began to douse the flames. The more flames she put out, the less of the older shinobi that were telling her to go away.

She pulled a hand full of senbon from her hip pouch and bit down on a few, but held the rest in her hands as she jumped rooftop to rooftop. She was swift in taking out the enemy with her wind chakra coated senbon. When the majority of the enemy shinobi were either dead or on the run, the majority of the leaf shinobi were now chasing down the remainder of the enemy shinobi as to not let any get away. Hinata jumped down from a rooftop with a single senbon left in her mouth.

"I see you disobeyed my orders…" the third's voice sighed from behind her. "Orders?" she asked and he furrowed his brows. "That's right, forgive me, I had forgotten you and Mikoto were training when I gave the orders." He sighed and Mikoto landed beside her with a smile. "Hinata was amazing, lord third. When this started, she took out twelve of them all her own faster than anything I can comprehend. I have never seen a child this strong." Mikoto said and Hinata smiled.

"She is special in ways beyond comprehension." He said and Mikoto smiled. "Then as promised, I guess as of now; you are officially a chunnin, Hinata." He said and pulled a new headband from his hip pouch and handed it to her, it had a black cloth securing it instead of the blue she had been given when they had made her genin. She smiled and secured the new headband around her neck. "I will get you your vest tomorrow morning." If your sensei permits." He said and at that moment, Minato dropped down in front of him with Kushina and Kakashi.

"Ah, Minato!" the third said with a small smile. "You made it just in time, Hinata has been made chunnin." He said and Kakashi looked at her oddly. "Kakashi-san did well as well, lord third. He took me down swiftly, although his methods are not one I would have liked to have experienced." She complained and the third nodded. "I do not wish to receive the vest, lord third…" Kakashi said and Hinata eyed I'm with curious eyes, chewing on the single senbon she had left. "Alright then, but it is mandatory when you reach jonin." He said but then Mikoto gasped and they all turned to look where she was facing.

"Obito!" Mikoto screamed as a lone man walked up, holding a beaten up Obito, blood fell from his lips and he was limp in the man's grasp. Then senbon that was between her lips almost dropped but she chomped back down on it at the last moment. Her eyes watered, she was worried about her friend; this was a life or death situation now. "Hand over that girl there, and the boy goes free." That was all she had heard the man say. "Why do you think we would hand her over?" the third Hokage asked and Hinata looked at the ground. "I took out a large group of them, that's why he wants me…" she said softly and the man smirked.

"See, the kid is smart at least." He scoffed and Hinata took a step forward. Kakashi grabbed her wrist and glared at her. "Are you going to kill yourself for him? He got himself captured, it's his fault not-" he started angrily, but his rant was cut off when her hand left a bright red mark on his face, even though you could only see some of it because of the mask. He held his face as he looked at her in surprise. Minato made a move to walk to her, but the man shoved Obito to his knees and put a kunai to his throat. "One more step and he dies anyways. One more move and I will kill him." The man said.

"Kakashi, do you even care at all?! You're so cold to him! To everyone! We are just trying to be your friends. We care for you, even if you don't truly care for us. Remember that, because if you ever forget it… you will regret it when one of us dies for you." She said and turned on her heel and walked towards the man a bit, but her breath caught in her throat when Obito's eyes cracked open and he winked at her. She continued to walk forward but before the man could fully release Obito, something he hadn't expected happened.

Obito spun in his loosened grasp and shoved the kunai into his leg and he dropped to the ground holding his leg. Before Obito could knock the man unconscious, Hinata spat the senbon at the man. It had been coated in sedative chakra when it hit the man's shoulder. He grinned at her, but she ran over to him and tackled him in a hug. Kakashi crossed his arms and walked away, disregarding everything Hinata had said. Obito blushed when Hinata had collided with him.

"I thought you were h-hurt really bad…" she stammered and he frowned. "I had to give him the impression… he is the one who led the raid after all…" Obito said as Hinata hugged him tighter. It kind of hurt how tightly she was hugging him, but he wasn't going to stop her… she had been worried about him. He looked up and saw a teary eyed Mikoto standing two feet away, her hand over her mouth and worry in her eyes. He glared at the ground as he looked away from her. When Hinata pulled away from him and began wiping her eyes, Mikoto lifted him into a hug. "Oh, Kami… Obito!" she sobbed and he blinked. She didn't really worry for him… did she? She wasn't his mother… she he couldn't really believe… no, he could… his mother looked down on him, same as his father… there had to be someone who cared…

He looked at her and she wiped her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked and he shrugged lightly. He didn't care that he was hurting, he was just hoping that she really did care, being the clan leader's wife and all… "why don't you come to my house this evening and I make you some dinner, huh? I think you deserve it." she said, her voice shaky but her smile was sincere. He nodded lightly and looked at his hands. He pushed himself off the ground and turned to see Hinata with a different color headband on. His eyes went wide. Was she that much stronger than him?

He fisted his hands at his sides, but winced when he moved his arm and it hurt. Hinata slowly walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. "Um… Obito…" she called and he looked at her. She was looking at the ground, her fingers fiddling and a shy look in her eyes, which were constantly averted from his own. "Would you come have dinner with us too Hinata?" Mikoto asked and Obito blinked, but huffed soon after. Hinata watched him and her eyes became downcast as he did so. "Uh.. no… no thank you. I think I will eat at home tonight…" she whispered and turned away from Obito.

"Hey! Wait, what were you going to ask?" he asked and she stopped for a second, then continued to walk. "I was going to ask if you were alright, but I guess Rin can heal you if that's what you would like…" she whispered and he sighed and rubbed his face, girls were so bipolar and confusing. The third Hokage sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he dealt with his confused Anbu members. "You have to remove the senbon before you take him in, with her skill I doubt she would make it to where he would wake up the moment you take the senbon out…" he sighed and the Anbu still wandered around like chickens with their heads cut off. They were confused that two children had taken him out, yet managed to knock him out with sedating chakra and a senbon, they could believe the kunai to the knee thing, but the other there wasn't a chance.

Obito took off towards the direction Hinata had disappeared, but Minato stopped him. "Tell her that we have a mission tomorrow and we leave at noon." He said and Obito gave him an odd look. "What makes you think I'm going after Hinata?" he grumbled and Minato laughed. "She's your friend, she cares about you and I know you aren't as much of a loner as Kakashi is so I know you care that she is your friend." He said and Kushina grinned and urged him forwards. "Now… go kiss and make up with your girlfriend." She said and Obito choked on air.

"WHAT?! She is not my girlfriend!" he yelled and Kushina rolled her eyes and laughed. "You say that, but you know the girl is adorable! Now go say sorry dammit!" she snapped and Obito paled at the brash woman's ferocity over an apology. "I'm going… sheesh…" he grumbled and she shoved him forwards roughly. "Hurry before she gets home and goes to bed, its late!" she growled and he scowled lightly at the pushy woman. He sighed once he was out of range of the older shinobi.

"Great… now they all know where I'm going and they're all going to be immature and say that she's my girlfriend. Like I need any more drama…" he sighed and pulled his goggled down over his eyes once more. He had pushed them up over his forehead for some reason before the man had grabbed him, he couldn't remember why he had, but that didn't matter now, he was just glad to be able to put them back on instead of play the injured captive. Which wasn't fun in the slightest. He got to her home and he knocked on the door.

He stood there for a few minutes before she opened the door. She was wearing a sleeveless sleep shirt, short shorts, and a cute little sleeping cap. He found it odd that he found her current attire kinda cute, but he guessed it was because she looked like a bunny. She rubbed her eyes and he frowned, he had made her cry…

"Ano… Hinata…" he began but she shook her head. "It's ok, Obito really. I understand. I know how it is being the black sheep of your family. Trust me I'm going to be the nicest Hyuuga you'll ever meet." She said softly and sniffled as she rubbed her eyes. "But, I was never meant to be here anyways. I was never meant to be in your genin squad, there are only three genin in the other squads, so why should I be the odd one out in the squad you were placed in before I even had a placement?" she asked and he frowned, he wasn't sure what he could say to make her feel better.

"I understand completely, so go be Happy with Rin-chan and have your silly arguments with Kakashi-san, I won't bother you or them…" she said as she rubbed her eyes once more, a sob shaking her shoulders. He furrowed his brows and slammed his palm against the door as she tried to close it, keeping it open. "That isn't it at all!" he snapped and she looked at him with tear filled eyes. "That isn't it Hinata! You aren't the odd one out! You are one of us! We are team Minato! There is no changing that now… you are our friend and you will always be there for us, even if we can be jerks because we get jealous of you, we will always be your friends." He said and she blinked, her eyes going wide.

"Y-you're jealous of me? Why?" she asked and he blinked in surprise. "You just got named chunnin… what's not to be jealous of?" he asked and she blushed and looked at her hands. "You will be chunnin too, I promise… there are plenty of other people to be jealous of… I'm definitely not one of them." She said softly and he furrowed his brows. "If there are other people to be jealous of… who are you jealous of?" he asked and she blushed and looked down at her fiddling fingertips.

"I'm a bit jealous of Rin…" she said softly and he blinked in utter surprise. "What? Why would you be jealous of Rin? You are more advanced in healing, taijutsu, and chakra control. She told me she knows that you are stronger than her and she strives to be strong like you! She knows that you are stronger, so why are you jealous of her? Do you think she is prettier? Or some other girly cause of jealousy?" he asked and Hinata cracked a tiny smile at how confused he was. She shook her head. "I have my reasons…" she whispered and he sighed. "Minato sensei says we have a mission tomorrow, so I might as well let you get some rest…" he sighed, he knew she could tell he was trying to guilt trip her into telling him, but he could see it wasn't working so he waved one last time and strolled to the Uchiha compound, hands shoved into his pockets and the forward slouch to his walk he always had when he was visibly pouting.

Hinata frowned at the ground slightly as she watched him go. "I'm jealous of Rin because…" she began as he rounded the corner.

"Because you love her with all your heart… and she doesn't even see it…"


	5. Chapter 5

Hinata sighed as she strolled down the street, her necessary items for her mission in her backpack. She wasn't really looking forward to this mission, it wasn't like she was on the best of terms with two of her teammates anyways… Kakashi looked down on her because she cared about her friends, if anything she could say; he was a real prick as a kid. Although, that didn't feel very nice to say or think either, he had, had his issues. Just as they all had. She sighed as she strolled closer to the village gates where they were all supposed to be meeting. She didn't see anyone there though, but a weight pulling on her backpack made her turn and blink at the person who had yanked on her backpack.

"Kurenai-chan, Asuma-kun, Izumo-kun, Kotetsu-kun…" she greeted the group and the spiky haired boy grinned at her. "So you're a chunnin huh?" Kurenai asked and Hinata could hear the jealousy in her voice. Kurenai was one to be like Sakura when she was younger, so she was sure that Kurenai would make her the rival if this wasn't settled. Hinata sighed and nodded adjusting the vest the Hokage had given her with a sour look. "Yeah… but you will be one too, all of you will make chunnin and some even jonin. Trust me, you're all really strong." Hinata said with a smile and Kurenai looked at her oddly, it was mainly surprise.

Asuma nodded and smiled at her, he was still the same. He was still friendly and had the ability to calm anyone with just his presence. You could tell just from that alone he was going to be an intelligent and capable shinobi. Izumo and Kotetsu were bickering again and but that all stopped when Kakashi walked by and scoffed at them like they were a nuisance. Hinata furrowed her brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "He still doesn't get it…" she grumbled and the four behind her watched her curiously.

"What doesn't he get?" Asuma asked curiously. "He doesn't see that you need friends. He doesn't see that if you abandon them, you will be all alone and when you do need someone… no one will be there to help you because you pushed them all away. There is also the fact that things could be reversed… And… by the time he realizes he needs his friends… it may be too late to save them…" she said softly while looking at her fingers and Asuma smiled. "He will come to see in time that things change. He has all of us as friends, and as much as he may try to push us away… we will always be here." Asuma said and Hinata smiled up at him and nodded.

"I need to go, talk to you all later." She said and he nodded, and much to her relief, Kurenai smiled instead of giving her the look of jealousy she had before. Hinata turned swiftly to run over to the group but collided with someone. She blushed as she helped him straighten up. "Sorry, Obito…" she said with a blush and he scratched the back of his head, a slight blush on his cheeks too. "Ah… yeah… my bad. I shouldn't have been standing so close… I should have also figured you would run into me. Seems to be a common occurrence lately." He sighed and she blushed.

"Yeah… I've noticed that…" she said and he shrugged. "Might as well go, Minato-sensei is waiting now." He said and she nodded. They waved to the group behind them and took off running towards the gates once more. 'Guess things weren't as bad between us as I had thought them to be…' Hinata thought with a smile and a small sideways glance at her dark haired friend.

Kurenai blinked and looked at Asuma. "So apparently Hinata has a thing for Obito…" she said and Asuma chuckled. "Well… that's a bit of a surprise…" he said and Kurenai nudged him. "You think that's who she wants to help?" she asked and he shook his head. "He had no idea who she was on her first day of the academy, so it must be someone else." Asuma said and Kotetsu grinned. "Yeah, its me. She totally digs me." he said with a grin. "Yeah… Alright, a hole to bury you in is the only thing she's going to dig you." Izumo said and the other two laughed while Kotetsu's ego deflated.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata sighed as she thought over the mission details, it was a simple escort mission in her own time. But… as usual this was yet another warring period, so this was not a normal escort mission of a merchant. Being as why Minato's team had been chosen. A jonin, two chunnin, and two genin, they were quite the group in her opinion. Two medics, and three frontal assault shinobi. Hinata wasn't going to be shoved to the back, though. She knew medics weren't supposed to be part of the front fighting group, but there was no way Minato was going to let her sit back and wait for them to get hurt.

Rin sat on the back of the merchant's carriage, so Kakashi and Obito could be sure she was safe from any enemy shinobi attempting to take out the medic first. Minato and Hinata walked by the front of the merchant's carriage because Hinata had the Byakugan and Minato had his speed. "Do not overexert yourself, Hinata." Minato said and Hinata nodded. She could tell it was a warning because of the way he had said it. "If she overexerts her eyes this fast, she's useless overall." Kakashi said and Hinata frowned.

"Shut up Kakashi!" Obito yelled and Hinata sighed softly as she saw the two boys arguing because of what Kakashi had said. "Don't force me to send Hinata back there." Minato sighed and Hinata blushed. "If they are fighting… shouldn't you handle it?" she asked softly and he shrugged. "If I send you back there you could silence them for a few hours." He said and her jaw dropped a bit. Was he kidding? They needed them…

"Don't fret, I was kidding; although a bit of silence would be nice." Minato said and not even thirty seconds later Hinata giggled. "Rin took care of it." she said and Minato chuckled. Hinata saw the sealing tag Rin had put over Obito's mouth and the one she had slapped to Kakashi's mask. "Thank you Rin." Minato chuckled and she replied with a small laugh. They had just crossed over the border between fire when she saw that the wind was getting really bad, meaning when they reached the border of wind, the wind would be worse and there would be a sandstorm waiting for them.

"Minato sensei, we will need to find somewhere to set up for the night because if we continue forwards like we are then we will be heading right into a sandstorm." She said and Minato stared ahead for a minute, wondering how she could tell but finally nodded and she smiled. "How could you tell?" he asked and as she opened her mouth to speak, the merchant chuckled. "Even I can tell. The wind patterns all the way out here will be able to tell you that there will be a sandstorm. Rough wind here means that there is a really bad sandstorm underway. Tell me girl, have you visited Suna before?" the merchant asked and Hinata nodded.

"Yes, I have, just not recently." She said and he nodded. "I see, that's interesting that you should know that small fact. Usually only residents of our village know that right there, it's somewhat a secret so shh." He said with a wink and she nodded. The merchant parked his carriage outside of a small cave and they set up camp as the sun began to set. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan, she felt the chakra loss from continuously using it, but the pain from over exertion hadn't hit yet so she knew she hadn't over exerted them. Rin and Obito walked off to gather firewood and Kakashi went with Minato to gather fish to eat. Hinata stood by the entrance of the cave, watching and listening for anything out of the ordinary.

She heard Minato and Kakashi talking, so they were obviously alright. She also heard Rin humming with Obito's heavy footsteps following behind her. Rin and Obito came back first. She watched Rin set up the firewood then Obito lit the fire. Hinata sat and propped herself against the cave and began running her hands through her long hair. Minato and Kakashi returned and had begun cooking the fish. They worked perfectly fine as a team, she was still the odd one out; even if Obito had told her she wasn't.

Obito and Rin turned to see Hinata braiding her hair, this didn't seem all that abnormal. Except, she was weaving shiny objects into her hair that they couldn't quite tell what they were. You couldn't see them as she weaved them into her hair though. Minato turned to see what they were looking at and he blinked, then sighed. "She's preparing herself for night watch." He said and they looked at him oddly. "I've seen that before, a lot of female shinobi do that." Minato said and Rin watched Hinata in interest. "So, in preparing for night watch, Kunoichi braid their hair?" she asked and Minato rocked his head a bit in an iffy manner. "Braiding is not actually what she is doing, she is concealing. I cannot explain exactly what she is doing, because I don't think she would like any eavesdroppers finding out what she had done." He said and the two listened curiously.

"Concealing huh?" Obito asked and Minato nodded. "Yes, my wife does the exact same thing, although I worry more for my safety when Kushina does it." he sighed and Rin giggled. Hinata stood and made her way over to them. She sat by the fire and sighed, none of them asked about her hair, just like Minato had asked them not to. "Ano… Minato sensei… can Hinata-chan and I go talk alone for a bit?" Rin asked and Hinata blinked in surprise. He nodded and she beamed. "Just don't go to far." He said and she nodded.

Hinata stood along with Rin. She followed Rin out into the woods and she was looking around to make sure there was no one they didn't need around, hovering about. When they reached the river that Minato and Kakashi had gathered the fish from Rin sat by the water's edge and stuck her hands into the water. "I know things about you…" she whispered and Hinata stared at her in shock. "W-what do you mean?" Hinata asked and Rin turned to her with a small smile.

"You care for Obito…" she said and Hinata blushed lightly as she looked at her hands. "I do…" Hinata whispered and Rin smiled brightly. "I also heard what you and Obito were talking about. You said you were jealous of me… and I know why… you said that he loves me and that I couldn't see it. I see it, and it is an every day reminder that I can't tell him anything without hurting him. I want him to be happy, Hinata. He is like a brother to me, but I could never tell him that I don't feel the same, I don't want to hurt him." She said and Hinata sat beside her.

"I know how you feel, I had a friend who cared for me as much as Obito cares for you, his name was Kiba. He was a little insensitive at times and a bit rude, but he was my best friend. He adored me, but I had to tell him I didn't feel the same, although he had already known. He needed me just as much as I needed him. That's also the reason I'm trying so hard to get it through Kakashi's head that he can't just push us away…" she said and Rin smiled at her. "He will realize soon enough." She said and looked up to the sky. "Well I think we should head back to camp, don't you think?" Rin Asked and Hinata nodded.

Hinata had an odd feeling that someone was watching them, but she couldn't quite figure it out. She didn't see anyone with her Byakugan, but that didn't settle her uneasy mind. She took her place back at the entrance of the small cave she felt goose bumps raise all over her skin and the uneasy feeling didn't fade, even when Minato had told her to rest for he would be taking first watch. She drifted off into a restless slumber, only for an hour to pass and her eyes snapped open. She saw a chakra entity lurking in the tree above Rin. She slowly moved to her feet and stretched calmly. Minato had caught onto the person as well and was also trying not to alert them.

Hinata walked over to Rin with a forced smile. She shook her shoulder lightly and Rin yawned and blinked up at her. "Hey Rin-chan, it's getting a bit chilly out, why don't you go to the cave and take my sleeping bag." Hinata said and motioned upwards with her eyes only, to the person lurking in the tree. She could now see that he wasn't alone. Rin caught on and nodded and stood, a smile on her lips. "Thanks Hinata-chan." She said and quickly made her way to the cave. Rin looked back only once, but that one glance was all she had wanted to see as the now dead man fell from the tree, one of Hinata's senbon in his neck. Her dark hair fell from the braid it had been in, seven more senbon appearing in her hands not even seconds later. Rin blinked in surprise, so that's what concealing meant.

Hinata turned to see Kakashi fighting with one group that had made their move the moment Rin made it to the cave. Obito was in a battle of wills with another, he seemed to be doing alright as well. She activated Byakugan and saw that another one had gone invisible and was attempting to make his way to the cave. She ran and shoved her open palms into his stomach and sent him flying backwards with an empty palm jutsu. They had finished them off and Minato sighed in relief as they were only bandits with a small amount of skills. Before they could all get settled back in for the night, Hinata threw a senbon in Kakashi's direction, then turned and made her way into the cave.

"What are you trying to do idiot?" he snapped and then a thud behind him explained itself. He saw the man on the ground and huffed, saying nothing more the rest of the night. Obito watched as Hinata tossed and turned in her sleep. He wondered exactly what could haunt her that badly to where she had recurring nightmares. Rin had moved over next to Hinata and had begun running her fingers through Hinata's hair, trying to soothe her friend. Rin leaned back as Hinata shot up and wiped her eyes, her shoulders and hands trembling as she stared down at her fingers.

Obito walked over to her and furrowed his brows as he sat by her and Rin. "Hinata… what exactly has you torn up so bad that you have nightmares about it?" he asked but she was hesitant to answer. She just stared at her hands, turning them in front of her face as if something were on them. "What is it Hinata?" Rin asked and Hinata dropped her arms. "N-nothing… I… I thought there was something on me is all…" she said then her eyes flickered to Obito. "And for you question…" she began softly fisting her hands in her lap.

"Everyone I ever cared about… is gone. The only ones saved were my father and sister, but they can't stand me so I'm here… alone." She said and Obito frowned. "But you aren't alone. We are your family now. Your best friends, your allies, your siblings, whatever you want us to be, we can be." Obito said with a grin and Hinata hugged him lightly. He blushed lightly but allowed her to hug him. She pulled back a few minutes later and wiped her eyes. With one last glance at him, she sighed. "If only that could actually be true."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The merchant gathered his things and they set off once more. The wind had slowed and Hinata and the merchant had declared it safe passage to suna. Hinata wished what Obito had said could be true, but she knew they wouldn't accept her as much as they had already accepted each other. They were team Minato, she was not. She was still team Kurenai even if Kurenai was currently the same age as her. They were not very happy when they reached the border of wind and a whole new sandstorm came from nowhere.

"I thought you said it would be gone." Kakashi said, obviously he was displeased as well. She activated Byakugan and frowned. She saw a flicker of chakra, or so she thought. The sand was getting in her eyes so she couldn't see very well. "I can't see for the sand…" she whispered and turned towards her team. The merchant fell behind a bit the moment she had said that. Minato fell into a protective stance. "Here." Obito said and removed his goggles. "Maybe these will help a bit." He said and held them out to her. "I couldn't…" she began but he smiled. "We need your eyes, so if sand is making it to where you can't see; I can able help for once." He said and she smiled softly.

"Alright." She said and put the goggles up to her eyes, but the moment she did, she dropped them and her hands flew through hand signs. "Water spout technique!" she yelled and her cheeks swelled with water and when she spat the water out, it collided with someone and took them to the ground. Her heart was beating fast, they had almost been face to face with her and not even she had been able to see them. "We need to be on the defensive…" she said and they circled around the merchant. She handed Obito his goggles back quickly, they weren't hiding all too much anymore. There were more than she could count.

Her eyes drifted towards Obito, he saw them too, but he wasn't about to give up. Why should she give in then? She watched them as they circled them, they didn't appear to want to attack just yet but you could never be too sure. They weren't sure who they were after, but they were going to cover all bases. They weren't going for her, the ones in front of her seemed all too uninterested in her. Her eyes drifted beside her to Obito, the men standing before him didn't make any move towards him. Hinata furrowed her brow and turned towards Rin, no one stood in front of Rin. She craned her neck to where she could better see Minato, three men stood in front of him, as if to keep him from interfering with whatever plans they had.

She heard the clash of metal against metal and that was when she had realized Kakashi was out of sight. That was who they were after! She caught a glimpse of their headbands and grit her teeth, sand shinobi. She turned to the area she'd heard the metal clash and her eyes landed on Kakashi fighting adeptly. Her eyes went wide when she saw something behind him. She broke rank and ran to Kakashi. She shoved him out of the way and prepared her own jutsu to counter the enemy shinobi's. She wasn't fast enough and just as Kakashi turned to her, flames engulfed her arms and she screamed.

She managed to put out the flames as Kakashi turned and stared at her wide eyed. She looked rough. Her arms were red and blistered, her hair was frayed and burnt from where the flames had gotten her. She had a small burn on her forehead, but if it scarred it could be hidden by her hair. One of her eyes was squeezed shut in pain while the other was filled with tears. She was panting as she stared down at her useless arms. He could tell she was in pain.

Rin made a move to run to her but Minato grabbed her arm and shook his head. "Rin don't, you could get hurt too, when the enemy shinobi are gone then; and only then can you tend to her wounds." He said and Rin glanced at her. Obito just stared in shock at Hinata. The enemy shinobi began retreating as another chakra approached. Three sand Anbu dropped from the tree tops and Hinata only managed to glance up at them with pain filled eyes. Her jacket's sleeves were burnt away so she pulled the jacket off, wincing as she did so.

"What happened here?" one anbu asked and Hinata looked up at him. "We were attacked by shinobi from your village… they attacked the white haired boy over there as we were escorting the merchant to Suna…" she said softly and the merchant stepped forward and made his agreement to the statement. Hinata placed her palms against the ground and pushed herself to her feet, gritting her teeth with the pain. Rin watched in disgusted fear as Hinata began healing her arms on her own. The faster she healed them, the faster the dead skin flaked off and disgusted Rin more. Hinata healed her arms to the point of very little pain, which wasn't very much because they were still blistering and red. She took two steps forward then collapsed face first into the ground, the last thing she saw was Minato running over to her.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

When they finally got back to the village, Hinata still hadn't woken from when she had passed out. Rin and Obito had run Hinata to the hospital. Kakashi and Minato made their way to the Hokage tower to give their report. Asuma and Kurenai ran up to Kakashi and Kurenai hit him right over the face. Her eyes were filled with anger. "How could you let her get hurt like that!" she snapped and he looked at her dully. "She's her own shinobi, her choices are her own, not mine." He said and she reared back to punch him, but Asuma grabbed her under her arms and held her back. "That's cruel! She did it for you! Some friend you are!" she snapped and Minato frowned.

"Kurenai." He called and she looked up at him. "I understand she is your friend, but I will handle Kakashi. I promise he will alter his views after my lecture." He said and Kurenai nodded and jerked away from Asuma, who sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ja ne, Minato sensei." He said and Minato waved him off as he ran after the dark haired girl. Minato chuckled and shook his head. "Those two are going to end up like me and Kushina…" he muttered light heartedly and Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Obito likes Rin." Kakashi said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Minato deadpanned at him. "Who doesn't know that… the kid is just extremely adamant about her." He sighed and Kakashi shrugged a shoulder. "He was going to kiss our team photo. I looked through his window." Kakashi said and Minato gave him an odd look. "You are both creepy, did you know that?" Minato asked and Kakashi raised a brow at him. "How so?" he asked and Minato's brow twitched.

"He kissed a photo and you were looking through his window like a stalker…" he sighed and Kakashi shrugged as if he didn't care one bit how that sounded. "You realize I'm still angry with how inconsiderate you are towards Hinata and Obito, right?" he asked and Kakashi shrugged a single shoulder. Minato frowned down at his student. "You will care after tonight. After we are done at the Hokage's office, we are heading somewhere else." Minato said and Kakashi looked up at him curiously.

They opened the Hokage's door and he smiled at them. "Hello, Minato, Kakashi. I understand you had a bit of trouble during the mission. Not too much trouble I would hope?" he asked and Kakashi stared blankly forwards. "Kakashi shows utter disregard for his teammates and their wellbeing." Minato said sternly and Kakashi glared up at him. "But… I can't condone nor blame him. With what his father went through, I truly don't blame him. But Kakashi has a chance to see what utter disregard for teammates will cause you. I plan to show him after our meeting, lord third." He said and the third Hokage glanced from the blonde to his student.

"You mean she got hurt?" he asked and Minato nodded. "Yes, lord third, Hinata was gravely injured protecting him." Minato said and the third nodded. "I can't say I fully agree with your methods, Minato; but I know they will show the boy what he needs to learn." He said and Minato handed him the file on their mission. "Dismissed." He said and Minato and Kakashi bowed before they left his office. Kakashi crammed his hands back into his pockets as he followed behind his sensei. He wasn't sure where they were going but he knew that when Minato meant lecture, he meant LECTURE.

Minato pushed open the doors of the konoha hospital and he was confused. "Why are we here?" he asked and Minato said nothing, just ushered him to follow. Kakashi frowned, but followed anyways. Chills rolled down his spine as a pain filled scream filled his ears. "What the…" he muttered as a pained sob followed it. More screams echoed down the hallway and he felt the urge to rush forward to see what was going on. he felt a pang in his chest and he wasn't sure what the pang was until Minato shoved him towards an operating room window.

"Take a look, see exactly what your lack of caring for your teammates does. See how much pain you cause them when you don't care that they tried to save them." Minato said and Kakashi saw Hinata strapped down to an operating table. She was struggling within her binds as the medics scrubbed away at the burnt skin. "You have to scrub away the burnt or dead skin with bristled brushes or rough pads to prevent the dead skin from starting an infection. She will undergo this on a daily basis. With a burn that severe, she may have damaged nerves and muscle tissue. Do you know what that means?" Minato asked and Kakashi couldn't tear his eyes from Hinata's agonized face.

"It means, Kakashi; that you may have just cost her, her career as a shinobi. You may have cut her life short. She may die of infection if it gets bad. She could never fight again, she could never protect those precious to her. Do you see it now Kakashi? She saved you, and you don't even care. She could end up dying for a selfish boy who would forget her name after she died, how would that make you feel? How would you feel then Kakashi? Knowing that you ruined her life because you were careless and she had to save you! How would you feel!? What if it were Rin? What if it were Obito? Would you care more? Or would you care less? Tell me Kakashi? Tell me!" Minato snapped and Kakashi fisted his hands.

"I know you would give one hell of a damn if it were you! So why can't you care that she could possibly die!?" Minato asked and Kakashi fisted his hands tighter and sent one of them through the window of the operating room, surprising the medics inside with the crash of the glass and his angered yell. He spun on his heel and shoved past Minato. He stopped at the end of the hallway. Minato turned to him with his arms crossed. "I do care! You just don't understand! I want her to stay away because I don't know what to do!." He said and walked away swiftly. "That's one hell of a way to show her you care!" Minato's words echoed down the hallway after Kakashi and he grit his teeth. His subordinate had some nerve.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata picked at the bandages that covered her arms from shoulder to fingertip, they were awful. She had been placed off duty for the past… who knows how many months anymore. The days blended together same for the weeks and months. Her arms weren't as bad, but there would be slight scarring. She could tell it was there, but if you didn't really look at it hard enough it just looked like her arms were really pale compared to the rest of her.

She had been out so long, the chunnin exams were going on and… and Mikoto had already had a baby, she hadn't been showing pregnancy when they had fought so no one had known. Hinata sighed and picked at the bandages again, thank goodness baby Itachi was perfectly fine. Born a little early and underweight, but perfectly fine where all else concerns. Hinata stopped picking at her bandages and her eyes dropped to the ground. Sasuke had said Itachi had been sick when he had fought him… she couldn't help but worry that she had injured him when she had fought with Mikoto… but there was also something else bothering her; although it wasn't about this time period… but her own.

Perhaps his illness was caused by being born premature… she understood there was nothing she could do about the Uchiha massacre, they wouldn't change their views even with threat of death. She doubted there was anything she could do to stop the orders from the elders, but there was a possibility of saving Sasuke, Itachi, and Obito. If she could save them from the massacre, everything would be a bit better… right? She sighed and fiddled with her bandages, how selfish could she truly be?

She looked up and made her way to the testing arena where Obito was going to go up against another genin. She made her way up into the stands and awaited the next match to be announced. Rin's name read on the board and Kurenai's did as well. Hinata frowned as she watched the two girls hit the floor of the arena. Rin lost, but was not hurt badly enough to where she couldn't stand. Her and Kurenai stood and shook hands, happy to have been able to fight one another, even if Rin ended up losing.

She smiled, they were all much better mannered than the genin were when she went through the exams. She watched as Obito's name rolled around. Then another Uchiha's. she bit her lip lightly. If the Uchiha treated Obito like the Hyuuga had treated her, then this match may not be a fair one. She looked down at her arms and sighed, she was going to step in if this got really bad. Her eyes drifted over to Kurenai and she smiled, like Kurenai had done for her, but this was for Obito.

Hinata flinched every time the older Uchiha boy hit Obito, she could tell it hurt him. She gripped the handle of the railing as the final blow appeared to have been given by the older boy, the punch had sent Obito flying across the stadium and into the wall beneath her. The boy pulled out a kunai and was headed towards Obito. She was about to jump over when Minato placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't interfere, Hinata." The voice wasn't Minato's but Obito's. He had stood back up and seen her about to jump over the railing.

She frowned and fisted her hands over her chest, but she knew why he didn't want her interfering. This was an Uchiha matter, Mikoto was standing in the bleachers, holding an infant wrapped in a bundle. She was watching Obito with prideful eyes, she knew her gaze was on Obito because they were soft, but still prideful. The older woman held a soft spot for the misfit Uchiha. She saw herself in him, she was a kind woman in a clan of harsh men and women.

She watched as Obito gave it his all and his foot connected with the older boy's head and sent him stumbling backwards. Obito was clumsy, that was a well known fact and these movements were still clumsy. She smiled as Obito returned the older boy's beating back at him tenfold. The other guy didn't know what hit him until the proctor called the match in Obito's favor. Hinata cheered, but her cheers were cut short when the other boy forced himself off the ground just enough to throw a kunai at Obito before he fell back down.

She jumped down and held out her hand for an empty palm technique, but the kunai pierced the skin of her hand. Her technique hadn't had any effect. Meaning she could no longer use precise pinpointing chakra in the way of the Hyuuga. She hit her knees and stared at her hand. She ripped the blade from her hand and tossed it to the side. The green chakra coated her hand and the mark the blade had left faded away to a small scar in the palm of her hand.

Minato hit the ground next to her as she stood. "Hinata, are you alright?" he asked and she nodded, a smile on her lips. She wasn't exactly alright, but she was better. She knew she could still use jutsu, she just couldn't use the pinpoint chakra that the Hyuuga were famous for anymore. "Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded. "Yes, absolutely. Although I can no longer title myself as Hyuuga, I would be quite the disgrace to the clan now." She said and he furrowed his brow.

"Why is that?" he asked and she struck at his abdomen, but he didn't feel the familiar pain of the gentle fist technique. "No more clan technique, just the eyes." She said and he frowned. "Hinata… that means you can't be a shinobi any longer." He said and she laughed lightly.

"Does it sensei? There was a reason I trained in other methods of fighting. I had always planned to denounce myself as Hyuuga. I was never accepted as one, so now I can become something more." She said and he smiled lightly. "You bounce back faster than anyone I know…" he sighed and she smiled. "Kunoichi have to be adaptable to the worst type of situations, so I learned medical skills, I don't need the pinpointing chakra techniques I just need to be able to control it." she said and he nodded.

"The kid aint just any medic either, Minato! She's mine." A familiar voice laughed and they turned to see the blonde woman walking over. He bowed while Hinata fiddled with her fingers lightly. "Which means you'll be taking her." It wasn't a question, Hinata could tell. "Oh yes. The third gave me permission to train the girl better." Tsunade said. Hinata blinked and her fingers froze. More training? More training with Tsunade? Hinata's lip trembled and her shoulders slumped. The only thing Tsunade gave her was a vicious smirk and a devilish laugh. "For the next year, You. Are. Mine. You can call it rehabilitation if you wish." Tsunade said and Hinata whimpered.

"You can't take her just yet! She hasn't met Itachi!" Mikoto's voice rang out and she jogged over, an infant in her arms. Hinata stared in awe at the tiny child who reached out to her. Mikoto offered the child to her and Hinata held him with the utmost care. His dull black eyes stared at her, an intelligence dwelling within them that not even she could comprehend. He reached up and grabbed the necklace that someone had left at her hospital bed side a few months ago for her birthday. She didn't know who it had been from but it was special to her, so why not pass her good luck charm on to the one who would need it more?

She smiled, she knew it had looked familiar anyways, she'd seen one just like it the first time she had been thirteen. "You want it, don't you?" she asked and the infant grunted. She held him securely with one arm and removed the necklace from her neck. She handed it to him and he looked towards his mother and held it up to her. Mikoto laughed lightly and took the necklace. She offered it back to Hinata and Itachi squealed in terror. Hinata giggled and shook her head. "He likes it, keep it for him until he gets a bit older. He will want it then too." Hinata giggled and Mikoto smiled.

"Thank you Hinata." She said and the thirteen year old beamed at her. "Its nothing. I promise. It was going to be his anyways. If not now, then later." She said and Mikoto smiled. She placed the necklace around her own neck and Itachi squealed in delight. Hinata ruffled the dark spiky back hair atop his head then handed him back to his mother. "I will see you again, little Itachi." She said and he giggled. Mikoto waved at her as Fugaku walked up. "I appreciate what you did for Obito. The other boy will be punished, as will the one who put him up to it." he said and Hinata nodded.

"Tell him… tell him I said goodbye, would you please?" she asked and he nodded. "I will, good luck on your training." He said and turned to follow his wife. Minato had already bid them farewell for the afternoon, so it was only her and Tsunade. "But I don't want to do it over." She whined and Tsunade's brow twitched. "Shut up. You're just a ruse to get me the hell back out of here." She scoffed and someone cleared their throat behind them. "Uncle Dan wouldn't like you doing this to ditch the village." Hinata blinked and then it clicked, Shizune was the other girl. She only looked about a few years older than her, possibly around fifteen.

"Damn, now I'm stuck with both of you. At least one of you won't nag." Tsunade sighed and Shizune sighed. It was just like listening to them when they were older. Hinata giggled lightly. "What is it, future girl?" Tsunade asked with a sigh. "It doesn't change one bit." She giggled lightly and Tsunade whined and rubbed her face as she strolled away. "So you're telling me I'm stuck with her forever?!" Tsunade whined.

Hinata giggled and Shizune rolled her eyes. "Not forever, just until you become a bit more mature." Shizune scoffed and Tsunade whirled on her. "Listen here brat! I can leave you here! Dan didn't ask me to drag you everywhere he just asked me to take care of you! You will be taken care of just fine here!" she snapped and Shizune sighed. "But then who would get you out of trouble?" Shizune asked flashing an over stuffed wallet and Tsunade groaned and trudged forwards. Shizune grinned and motioned for Hinata to follow them.

Hinata could already tell this training was going to be a bit… different.


	6. Chapter 6

The rain fell heavily on her, pinning her hair to her skin as she stood there in a defeated type of sadness. The Hokage said to keep her for a few months longer, due to dangers within the Hyuuga clan and anyone resembling them. She hadn't heard anything of Obito, Rin or Kakashi in a few months. The last time being when Rin sent out a courier bird to tell her how they have been doing. She sighed and looked back over to Tsunade, who had been watching her with a raised brow for some time now.

Hinata fell into an offensive stance as Tsunade spun a boulder in the palm of her hand. "You ready to continue training?" she asked with a grin, Shizune stood a few feet away underneath an umbrella. Tsunade threw the boulder and Hinata sliced the boulder into small fragments using her chakra to make a thin but sharp chakra blade around each of her hands. The enchanting blue glow vanished from around her hands and she smiled. "Great, you're getting good at improvising with the pinpoint chakra you can use." Tsunade said and Hinata smiled. "I didn't think I would be able to use my pinpoint chakra anymore, but you work miracles lady Tsunade." Hinata said softly and Tsunade grinned.

"Always have." She said with a smirk. Shizune rolled her eyes, but the smile didn't leave her lips. "Hinata, you seem to be working extremely hard for something: and not just to get stronger either." Shizune pointed out and Hinata blushed darkly and lost her stance and tripped as she had swiped at the training dummy Tsunade had set up for her. Tsunade barely hid her snort of amusement at her disciple's awkwardness. "Um about that…" Hinata began with a deepening blush.

"Come on future girl, I'm kinda curious about this mystery kid you want to protect." Tsunade said and Hinata pouted. "S-shishou…" she whined and Tsunade gave her a look. "Listen here brat, you might not be as annoying as the supposed future disciple you've told me about, but listen here… if this kid is gonna be any trouble for me in the future I would prefer to know about it now." She said and Hinata frowned. "If I can stop Madara… he won't be any trouble what so ever." Hinata said softly, her eyes downcast.

"I understand that in your time Madara is a… reanimation as you called it, but do you think he would be alive in this time?" Tsunade asked in a considerate manner, unlike the usual sarcastic tone she would have taken about a matter that bothered her. "Um… I was told by the masked man that he was trained under Madara, after being taken on a mission during the war. There's a lot he never told me, but… I'm not sure how I can help him." Hinata said softly. "I'm still curious as to who that masked man is, but I understand you have found a close friend in the Uchiha boy as well… So maybe the time for protecting whoever that masked man is over and you should worry over the Uchiha kid instead." Tsunade said and Hinata's eyes drooped in sadness.

She gathered her things and made her way over to the blonde and her future assistant. "Is it time to go yet?" she asked softly and Tsunade frowned, understanding that there was no more information that she was going to get out of the young Kunoichi. Tsunade pursed her lips, thinking maybe she had crossed the line speaking to the younger woman in that manner. She probably not ready to speak of what she knew, especially to someone of Tsunade's stature. She could also tell she hadn't spoken more of this with the Hokage.

Shizune followed after the blonde woman with the umbrella over the blonde's head. Hinata had dealt with the pounding rain that plastered her hair and clothes onto her body like a second skin. "Hinata, come here, I have your umbrella still. Please don't make yourself sick!" Shizune called out and Hinata offered a small smile. "I will be perfectly fine, Shizune-chan. Please, do not worry about me." she said and Shizune stopped running after her with a frown. She looked over at Tsunade, who shrugged with a look that said leave her be.

Hinata opened the front door of the inn she and Tsunade were currently staying in. Tsunade and Shizune shared a room, as to be sure Tsunade didn't sneak out to gamble without her chaperone. Hinata removed her training outfit, which consisted of a pair of black pants and a dark grey baggy t-shirt. She tossed the soaked clothing over into the hamper in the corner. She pulled on a pair of shorts as well as a tank top and pulled her hair up into a sloppy wet bun atop her head holding the soaked hair off of her until she reached the bathroom and began to ring her hair out once she reached the sink.

She towel dried her hair for the most part, then she let the slightly damp locks cascade around her. She crawled into her bed and stared at the ceiling. She found it hard to sleep anymore. She felt so guilty. She crammed her face into the pillow as her tears surfaced. There was no more Neji, no more Naruto, and despite popular belief, she was upset that there was no more Sasuke. She bit her lip and stifled her sobs with her hands. She missed them, their voices, their faces, everything about them.

'You have a chance to stop all of this! Stop being a baby and get on with it already. Don't show them that you're useless, you know you aren't! Get over your pathetic crying! Last you saw, that pink haired girl was fighting! That blonde girl lost her father, but she was still fighting! The dark haired strategist kid lost his father, but he was still fighting! Everyone lost someone. Stop being pathetic! Get a grip!' a voice in her mind yelled at her and her eyes welled up with even more tears. She dropped her hands from her mouth and her shoulders shook. 'Don't make me be wrong about you, I know who you truly are. Don't let me down.' His mismatched eyes flashed in her mind and she shoved her face into her pillow. She knew he was right… she wasn't useless or weak… and she really needed to get a grip of herself.

'Save me… I'm begging you… if you save me… I can help save your friends…'

:-:-:-:-:-:

His glare never left the silver haired preteen next to him. It had been over a year since Hinata left and Obito still blamed Kakashi for her departure. A grin always tugged at his lips when she had thought to tell someone goodbye to him, and not Kakashi. But right now he couldn't stand the sight of Kakashi, for one reason or another the silver haired shinobi disgusted him at the moment. He crossed his arms over his chest and tossed his leg up on the tree stump beside him. For once he had been early for a training session, and his sensei was late; which was extremely unusual. Rin walked over to him and sat down beside him, making his chest swell in pride and excitement.

"Hey Obito." She said and he grinned. "Hey Rin-chan." He greeted and she smiled softly. "How are you doing? I understand you're really torn up about Hinata being gone…" she said and he blinked in surprise. "I'm fine, really." He said, and smiled at her. She was worried about him. He rubbed the back of his head with a goofy grin. "Hey, Rin… would you uh…" he began and his face turned pink as he watched her from the corner of his eyes. "Want to um… hang out some time? Just you and me?" he asked and she blinked but smiled lightly. "Sure, I'd like that. Just as friends though." She said and instantly his mood deflated.

Kakashi rolled his eyes as he watched the two. Their sensei showed up not much later with a grin plastered on his face. "Guess what everyone!" he yelled and before he could even say anything more; Obito's brow furrowed before he took off away from the training grounds, leaving a shell shocked Minato in his wake, the last of what he was going to say falling through the air unheard by two of his students. Rin frowned and took off after Obito. She wanted to see what got him so worked up so swiftly.

Obito thought he had felt a similar chakra spark through konoha. He ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He took to rooftops and even fences, just so he could get to the entrance faster. His heart raced and he almost lost his footing a few times when he saw a girl with long bluish black hair standing near the gates. He rushed over and was about to call out her name but she turned around and irate green eyes met his vision instead of calm, adoring lavender. He ran over to the guards at the gate with a hopeful look. "Um… has a girl with white eyes come through here? A tall blonde woman with her?" he asked and the dark haired man blinked and smiled at him.

"Oh, you mean princess Tsunade, Shizune, and the young Hyuuga girl?" the man asked and Obito looked hopeful, his grin felt contagious to the two on duty guards. "We received word from them, but they haven't returned yet, sorry to say. Last they contacted, they were doing well. Who knows when they will be back though, sorry kid." The blonde man said with a sympathetic smile and Obito's exuberance toned down significantly. "Oh… alright… thanks anyways…" he said with a sigh.

He trudged along the streets with his hands in his pockets. Rin caught up with him and he tried to force a smile at her, but he couldn't even manage that. "It's ok Obito, I miss her too. I was hoping that she was on her way back, or even here for that matter… but… we have received a mission." She said and he nodded. "Lets go see what it is, shall we?" she asked and he nodded once more. He followed her with a small smile, she seemed to make him feel better, without realizing it… but his chest still held a sadness that didn't seem to want to go away.

When they reached their meeting place Minato held a small saddened frown and Kakashi looked as if he couldn't care less. "Now, on to what I was saying before. We have a new mission, we are going to be doing a high class espionage mission." Minato said with a humored smile and Kakashi's eyes widened. Obito's face broke out in a grin and Rin looked surprised as well. "We will have to be very careful, being as we do not have Hinata's eyes for this one." Minato said, his smile not leaving his face once, but Obito's grin became a frown once more.

"Why us?" Kakashi asked and Minato blinked then looked over at the silver haired nin with a frown, he had been trying to keep a positive mood, but obviously Kakashi wouldn't allow it. "This is about Hinata, you know." Is all he had to say before both of the younger males stood up straight and made a break for each of their homes. Rin had a downcast look and Minato frowned. "How did she ever get into the academy, Minato sensei?" she asked and he looked at her sharply. "What are you implying?" he asked a stern tone to his voice, shocking her quite a bit, but she still looked over at him.

"I harbor no ill will towards her, she is my friend after all… It's just that… When she arrived, it was sudden; there had been no talk what so ever of a new student in the days prior. She just appeared and suddenly there was paperwork for her." Rin said and Minato couldn't hold back the prideful smile at how observant the twelve year old was. "You're right, but… Hinata had been here for a total of four days before she had wandered into the village from the surrounding woods. An anbu had spotted her, but also noticed that there were no Hyuuga missing from the clan what so ever. So Hiashi and his father put in paperwork at the academy so they could keep an eye on the strange girl with their eyes. Smart really…" Minato said and Rin furrowed her brows.

"So they didn't even know who she was, but they put her in the academy to keep an eye on her? So you're telling me that they have been watching her for the entirety of the two years she has been in konoha?" Rin asked and Minato nodded. "But not only have they been watching over her, but they figured out that the Hokage and the Uchiha have been watching over her as well, so they see her as an asset and do not question the fact she has their eyes, for the first time in… um… ever, Actually." Minato chuckled and Rin nodded.

"I see… so they have her in their sights as an asset to the village… or is there something else?" she asked and Minato chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with a smile. "Well uh… you see… it's more of a conjoining Hyuuga and Uchiha thing they are after…" he chuckled and Rin's face became deep red. "You mean they want Obito and Hinata-chan to…?" she questioned and a soft giggle found its way from her and slowly started to get a little louder. Minato blinked at his remaining female student and a slow smile crossed his lips.

"I think Obito would die of embarrassment if he ever found that out. He seems to have a bit of a crush on her I don't really think he knows it though." Rin said and Minato smiled. "And quite the crush on you as well." He chuckled and she nodded. "But I don't really feel the same way. He's like a brother to me, but that's it. I don't love Obito like that. I wish I could tell him, but I can't…" she said softly and Minato nodded, but only then did they notice the dark haired male standing there with a hurt look on his face…

"Obito… how much did you hear?" she asked and he bit his lip and turned away from her. "I heard enough to know you think so little of me that you can't tell me things to my face, but lead me on…" he said softly and grabbed his back pack and made his way to the front gate. Minato rushed to catch up with him and the young Uchiha just looked up at him sadly. "She could have just told me…" he whispered and Minato patted him on the back. "You know… she's actually tried so many times to tell you she didn't feel the same, but she didn't want to hurt you… you were always looking at her with that smile and it hurt her to even think about telling you that she didn't feel the same." Minato said and Obito nodded, understanding what his teacher was telling him.

"You know... now that I think about it… there was someone who seemed to have an interest in you like you had in Rin." Minato said smoothly and Obito raised a brow at him. "You know, I always thought Hinata-chan had a severe liking for you." Minato chuckled and Obito rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows she likes Kakashi, just like Rin…" he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Minato smiled at how resilient the Uchiha was, even though he had realized he was being rejected. "What is so special about stupid Kakashi anyways… everyone seems to like him." Obito spat disgusted with the idea of his silver haired teammate.

Minato chuckled and shook his head good humoredly at his odd student. "Not sure, but you have your quirks as well Obito." Minato said with a chuckle then raised a single brow and looked at his dark haired student with an amused look. "Well how about we go on with our mission and go spy on Tsunade and Hinata huh?" he asked with a wink and Obito shrugged. "Sure, I'm up for it." he said with a grin and Minato chuckled as Rin walked up and fiddled with her fingers. Obito grabbed her up in a hug and her eyes went wide. "It's all good, Rin-chan! You're still my best friend." He said and deep down, he was sad; but the feeling that being this close to her gave him, was indescribable.

So he figured, as long as he could have this feeling, he was going to stay right here; right by her side. He slung his bag over his shoulder and he ran over to the gates, waiting on his team expectantly. Minato smiled and strode to catch up with his excited student. Kakashi and Rin caught up not too long after. "Alright guys, so the basics of this mission is to check up on Tsunade, Shizune, and Hinata. We are to report back to the Hokage on any findings out of the ordinary. We are being sent to check up on them, but to also make sure there's no one following them but us, pretty much. This is the mission we were granted upon Kakashi's promotion to jonin." Minato said, then he sent a pointed glance at his two male students.

"You two…. Absolutely no fighting or even the slightest bit of bickering or else I will have Rin bring out the silencing tags once more. Kakashi, you might be up on my ranking now, but there is no excuse for such immaturity, you hear?" He said and they both nodded, although the nod he received from Kakashi was a curt one, and Obito gave him a rapid and exuberant one. He nodded with a smile on his face and turned to Rin. Who watched him with a frown on her lips. "This is a two part mission isn't it?" she asked and Minato nodded at her. "Sadly enough, we are in a time of war… and… no missions are really given without proper explanation as to why. The Hokage wants us to be sure the three Kunoichi are alright, but he wants me to inform them of urgent matters that they are needed for. Then… I have another assignment and so do you." Minato said and a frown crossed his lips.

"You three are to destroy the Kannabi bridge. I would have preferred not to have had to inform you yet… but… as I see it. I now have no choice." Minato said and Rin looked saddened. "We leave for Kannabi Bridge in two weeks, we are to destroy it. So, while we are on route to Tsunade and Hinata, enjoy your time because it might be the last time we have any internal peace until this war is over with." Minato said then turned on his heel and walked out of the gates. Obito, Rin, and Kakashi followed him without another word; understanding that Minato didn't feel like having any further conversation at the moment.

:-:-:-:

Hinata deflected a hit from the odd creature before her; he looked oddly familiar but his chakra was stronger than she had thought it would be if it were who she thought It was. He had appeared from nowhere and attacked her. She didn't very much like the idea of being jumped in the middle of the woods. She was only gathering herbs for goodness sake. Her eyes darted around and she couldn't catch sight of Tsunade of Shizune, so she was on her own at the moment. "What are you?" she asked as she smacked another pure white hand away from her. "Guru is Guru." It said and she jumped out of its reach. "Guru, huh?" she asked and made a move to take a few more steps backwards, but she bumped into something.

She turned and looked up at the pale white male behind her. "A Zetsu." She managed then ducked and rolled away from his grasp as well. "What do you want from me?" she asked, a slight tremor to her voice; she knew that the actual Zetsu was far stronger than the clones they had fought in the war. "Ah, so you know about me… hm. Seems as if Madara was right about the new chakra signature invading this area. One he had never felt before, only… had hints of his own chakra attached to it." The white Zetsu said thoughtfully. He sent us to check it out, seeing as it hung around the boy quite a bit. Oddly, you're just a young one. Not much of a detriment to the plan… yet." Zetsu said watching her intently.

He circled her like a predator eyeing its prey. The one called Guru stood in the same place it had been in once she had jumped away from him. "Ne, ne, Zetsu… do we have to kill the bunny?" he asked and Hinata's eyes widened. She bit her lip and stepped backwards away from the Zetsu that was closing in on her. The one called Guru walked up behind her and trapped her in his arms. "Do we have to kill her? She has the ability to poop… I want to ask her about it." Guru said and Hinata's brow twitched. She was amused just the slightest bit about the weird one called Guru, but the Zetsu before her was intent on doing what he had to.

Hinata slipped out from Guru's grasp and took a few steps backwards to get her distance back. "I'm quite interested in how the girl knows what I am." He said and once more reached for her, but she jumped away. "I see you are not going to be easy to take…" Zetsu sighed and vanished underground. Her Byakugan activated as if on instinct and she found where he was and her lip trembled, he had summoned clones to assist in his attempt at her capture. Hinata slid back on one foot, then launched herself into an all out run towards the inn she, Tsunade, and Shizune had been staying in.

"Guru catch her before she can return to the village!" one of the Zetsu clones yelled and Hinata's eyes widened as she dodged Guru and quickened her pace by use of chakra. She jumped and dodged each of the Zetsu's grabbing hands. She felt more presences of chakra ahead and they felt somewhat familiar. A relieved sigh escaped her lips as a Zetsu appeared behind her and an enraged woman sent it flying with a swift chakra enhanced fist. Hinata landed on a branch and Tsunade was cracking her knuckles once more. "Anyone else going to try and lay a hand on my prized pupil?" she snapped and Hinata watched as Guru's chakra signature faded away as well as the Zetsu's chakra.

Hinata sighed in relief once more and leaned over and grabbed her knees, trying to catch her breath and steady her heartbeat. Hinata stood to her full height and looked over at her sensei. "What was that all about?" she asked and Hinata shook her head. "Not sure but I think they thought I knew something about their plans or something." Hinata said softly but a frown tugged at her lips, she knew exactly what they were after. Obito. Shizune place her hand on Hinata's shoulder, eyeing the wound there, it was like a puncture wound. Shizune pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and before Hinata could stop her she dug a single finger down in the wound and began feeling around in it.

"Shizune what are you doing?" Tsunade asked upon hearing Hinata's sharp intake of breath. Shizune removed her finger from Hinata's shoulder and furrowed her brows. "I was checking to make sure nothing was lodged inside or broken off, lady Tsunade. Forgive me for surprising you Hinata-chan." Shizune said and offered Hinata a smile. Hinata nodded in understanding, but held her hand over her shoulder and a green glow cast over her injury healing it.

"So, what made you two come out here anyways?" Hinata asked softly, embarrassed that she still had to be saved by her teacher. Tsunade offered a small smile to the blunette. "Well we thought we sensed a familiar group of shinobi coming our way, so we thought we would check it out but we were going to find you first." Shizune said and Hinata smiled and nodded. Hinata stretched a bit and hopped down from the tree branch they had been standing on.

Tsunade and Shizune followed suit and walked beside her. "So, Hinata… what is the future like?" Shizune asked suddenly, it wasn't the first time she had asked but Hinata couldn't keep giving her the same answer; could she? Shizune was looking at the younger girl expectantly, when Hinata sighed. "It's… different. Everything is different. The ones you wouldn't expect to be the saviors, are… and the ones you would have thought to be the saviors end up falling short of the cause and end up hurting more people. The underdogs are what keep us safe, and the overachievers are the ones we have to watch carefully…" Hinata started off softly, her mind circling around Sasuke and Naruto. The over achiever and the underdog. And… Obito… the one that was supposed to be… not the one that is… he only wanted to help and be noticed… but he became the reason for the pain…

"Its all so different. It is amazing. And saddening all the same…" Hinata said softly and Shizune offered a smile, this was the most she had gotten out of Hinata, although vague it was still something. The sadness didn't leave the bluenettes eyes and Shizune felt a bit bad about bringing it up. The Hokage had told her there had been war and Hinata had lost a lot of people close to her, and that unless Hinata was willing to speak about the future not to speak of it. Tsunade watched the younger girl with a curious glance; she knew not to press the young Hyuuga, having heard what happened when the Hokage had done so.

A light sparked in Hinata's eyes and she shot forwards. She jumped up and lunged into a tree, four shinobi dropping from said tree. Two of the shinobi looked sheepishly at Tsunade, while one looked unfazed and the last one had a smile on her lips. "Hinata-chan." The brown haired girl called out when the bluenette hit the ground in front of Tsunade once more. Hinata smiled at the group as Minato stepped forwards and smiled proudly at Hinata. "I see your training has gone well." He said and she smiled and tried to peer around him but he was in the way no matter which way she leaned.

He saw what she was trying to do and he chuckled and stepped out of her way. Rin ran forwards and captured her in a hug while Obito and Kakashi stayed behind. Rin stepped away from her and smiled. "Kakashi, Obito." She said with a smile and walked towards them. Kakashi stepped out in front of her and she blinked in confusion. He grabbed her arms and looked them over, seeing the wrappings that trailed all the way up her arms. He knew she was no longer injured, but instead hiding them.

Starting at her fingers he began unwrapping the bindings on her arms, revealing scars mimicking the flames all the way down her arm. It wasn't a solid scar from fingertip to elbow, it more so resembled the flame that had licked its way up her arms. On her left hand the skin was smooth, no longer were there rivets in the skin representing a palm print, but instead there were creases and parts where the remnants of a palm print still resided. On her right hand she no longer had fingerprints, the scarring was more noticeable on her right arm being as that arm was the one she had more so shielded herself with. He frowned beneath his mask and released her hands, only to reach up and brush her bangs away from her face, revealing a small scar leading up from the side of her nose up the bridge and a small scar on her forehead as well.

She pulled her hands away and began wrapping her arms back up the moment he released his grasp on them. She tried to contain her blush of embarrassment when his fingers traced over the scars on her face. She stepped away from him and walked around him and over to Obito. She knew Kakashi was still watching her, she felt his eyes burning into her back. She was uncomfortable with the way he was staring at her, saying absolutely nothing. She smiled at Obito and a smile tugged at his lips as he engulfed her in a hug. Her face flushed dark red and she nibbled her lip when he stepped away from her.

"We missed you Hinata-chan!" he said and she tried her hardest not to twiddle her fingers. "I m-missed all of you too, Obito-kun." She said softly and Hinata saw Tsunade laugh lightly from the corner of her eyes. Obito grinned and gave her a thumbs up while he adjusted his goggles. She smiled softly and turned to Minato-sensei. "You were sent here?" she asked and he nodded. "We were sent to tell you three that the Hokage requires your assistance being that the war is getting up to speed and we need our best medic nin at the village to help with the shinobi returning from their missions." Minato said and Hinata nodded. Tsunade and Shizune exchanged looks then nodded, understanding that they needed to return.

Hinata watched them for a moment before she pursed her lips and rubbed her upper arm nervously. "You're not coming back to the village with us… are you?" she asked softly, dreading the answer she knew was coming. Minato smiled, but being as observant as she was; she saw right through it. "No, but we have our own job to do, and so do you." Obito said before Minato could say anything. "They need you there to fix everyone up, just as they need Shizune and Tsunade-sama as well. You can do it. We believe in you." He said and a light blush covered her cheeks. She nodded and smiled. "You be safe too, Obito-kun." She said and smiled over at Rin and Kakashi.

Team Minato's youngest all walked up to form a group, meeting the fist that Obito had held out. Hinata and Rin were first to connect their fists with Obito's, then they looked at Kakashi for him to do so as well but he didn't, that was until Hinata frowned at him. Then he reluctantly placed his fist against Hinata's wrapped one. "Be safe." They all echoed each other and then laughed at the fact they were pretty much unanimous, except for Kakashi that is.

"Hinata, let's get a head start." Tsunade said and Hinata nodded, sending one last glance at her friends then following her shishou. "Alright, team Minato, let's get to it." he said and they nodded, taking to the trees after him. Obito took a single glance back behind him and saw Hinata was still watching them, or more so him; as she vanished from sight as well. He couldn't help the heat that rushed to his face. "She likes you, you know." Rin stated with a small smile and he laughed and brushed it off.

"It's obvious she likes someone else, it is most definitely not me." he said with a laugh but Rin saw through him brushing it off. She saw the jealousy that crept into his eyes upon saying she liked someone else. "You like her too." She said with a sly look in her eyes. He blushed darkly and shook his head. "I do not… she makes me nervous is all…" he retorted and she laughed lightly. "Obito… it's written all over your face, it has been since she took the hit for you in the chunnin exams." Minato butted in and Rin tossed a grateful smile his way.

Obito blushed but glared at the ground as his feet made a thunking noise as they connected with the branches beneath his feet as he jumped from one branch to another. "I don't understand why you are all making such a big deal over it. She doesn't like me. That much is obvious, because why would she be interested in me when the perfectionist over there is always around. She could have given up her career as a shinobi for him, sure she got hurt for me, but she could have sacrificed herself for him if the burns had been bad… he doesn't care that she got hurt… she does almost everything she does for him. He doesn't care." Obito spat and Kakashi snorted in annoyance.

"Are you honestly that stupid?" Kakashi asked and Obito glared at him sharply. "Why you!" he ground out and Kakashi rolled his eyes. "She has had eyes for you since day one, Obito." Rin said softly. And Obito brushed off her words swiftly. "You know, idiot… she's right. Not once before the day she took the flames for me had she actually treated me like she treats you." Kakashi said, still monotonously but Minato could tell it was the truth coming from the silver haired nin.

"From the first mention of you she turned red in the face." Rin said with a giggle, trying to lighten the mood within the group, since attitudes had flared up between Kakashi and Obito. "If you also haven't noticed idiot, almost every word you said to her either made her blush or cry." Kakashi said suddenly and Obito blinked, but said nothing. He was dwelling on what the silver haired shinobi had said. Obito had spent his time fawning over Rin and causing trouble with the silver haired nin that he had pushed a lot of what happened between him and Hinata to the back of his mind.

He felt slightly guilty for delegating her feelings to the recesses of his mind like he had. He had gotten jealous of her the night she was pronounced chunnin, he had upset her with his angered jealousy and hadn't even realized it. That same night, Mikoto had asked them both to dinner and he had thrown a fit like a child; making her upset and declining said invitation. He had later gone to her home and saw that she had been crying… he felt really guilty now, the most he had ever seen her cry was when it concerned him…

He grit his teeth as he remembered how cute he'd thought she had been dressed in her pajamas, he'd also quite often related her to bunnies. He tried to squash the soft smile that attempted to cross his lips but it planted itself there anyways. Now that he thought about it, Hinata was pretty cute. He sighed as his feet touched down on another branch. He repressed a confused look as he noticed that awkward feeling was back in his chest. He was pulled from his thoughts when he almost ran into Kakashi's back.

He looked up and saw that Minato had stopped and had a messenger hawk on his wrist while he read the slip of paper that had been attached to the bird's leg. A grim line replaced the determined look that had been on his lips. "I'm afraid that I must leave you under the leadership of Kakashi from here on out. I am needed, things have gone south on the front lines of the fight… something has gone wrong…" he said and the three watched their teacher carefully, before Kakashi nodded.

"Lets go then. Obito, Rin…" Kakashi said and Minato nodded at his students then vanished in a yellow blur.

:-:-:-:-:

Hinata followed her teacher and fellow apprentice as they made their way back to the village. It was a three day travel and they were nearly two and a half days into the travel back to the village. She watched the sky intently, hoping that the worst didn't come. She didn't want that bird to come to her. That was the absolute last thing she wanted. She pursed her lips and caught up with Tsunade, who had been watching her from the corner of her eyes. "You know him in the future don't you?" she asked and Hinata nodded with a saddened smile. "I know him very well in the future." She said and Tsunade smiled. "You care deeply for him then, don't you?" she asked and Hinata didn't even blush at this.

"I hold him very dear to my heart… and all I want to do is save him from what is to come…" Hinata said and Tsunade furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?" Tsunade asked and Hinata frowned. "He… he does something and a lot of people get hurt… I only want to keep him from doing this." She said and Tsunade nodded. "If you ever need to go somewhere, just tell me it's personal and I will let you go without question." Tsunade said and Hinata nodded with a small smile. "I must warn you though…" Hinata said and Tsunade looked over at her.

"If Jiraiya ever says he has to go get intel on something called the akatsuki, or its leader. Do not let him go, not for any reason." Hinata said and sped ahead of the trio. Tsunade stared wide eyed at Hinata's back and a chill ran down her spine when Hinata's words flowed back to her. 'He will die…' Tsunade fisted her hands tightly. "I promise you Hinata, I will never let him go after anything that resembles that phrase. I promise you…" Tsunade said and Hinata flashed her a smile. "I know you won't. That's why I told you so far in advance." She said and a sadness entered her eyes. "Also…" she began and Tsunade's head snapped up at her once more. "Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked and Hinata nodded.

"Whatever you do… don't let him continue down the path he is going down… pull him in. Show him you care. Start now… because later on… there will be nothing left for you to do if you allow him to continue to disconnect." Hinata said and Tsunade nodded rapidly. "I promise you! I promise!" Tsunade exclaimed, catching Hinata and Shizune off guard. "I will save my friends… I won't let them go… they are all I have." She said and Hinata could hear the sadness and determination in her voice. Hinata's eyes softened and she smiled at Tsunade once more.

"I know you will." She said and Shizune smiled. "Is there anything you can tell me to watch out for?" Shizune asked and Hinata smiled. "Not really, although… I would advise you not to leave Tsunade-sama's side." Hinata said and Shizune snorted. "You think I would leave Tsunade's side? You must be kidding." She laughed and Hinata smiled. "Tsunade-sama will take you great places." Hinata said and Shizune nodded. Hinata turned to look ahead of her once more and the village gates peeked over the tops of the trees, causing a smile to cross Hinata's lips. "Home." She whispered as she dropped down onto the path leading to the gates.

Tsunade and Shizune dropped from the trees as well and continued at the same pace all the way to the village gates. They trotted right past the gate guards and right to the hospital they were stationed at. Tsunade and Shizune immediately set to work on healing everyone in sight, but Hinata had a deep painful feeling in her gut, it was screaming at her that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She slowly walked towards the hospital doors but just as she reached to pull open the doors, a bird smacked into the window of the door.

Her fingers began to shake as she turned to glance at the bird, which was now dead from the impact against the glass. The small bird was awfully familiar and she knew why the gut feeling was making her feel ill. She reached and pulled the tiny paper off of the bird's leg, in Kakashi's very familiar scribbles, it read. 'They have Rin… we need your help. Please come to the kannabi bridge.' Hinata fisted her hands and shoved open the hospital doors, causing Tsunade to look at her in surprise.

"Go, they need you more." Was all she said the moment her eyes caught sight of the scrap of paper sticking out of Hinata's clenched fist. Hinata nodded and she spun on her heel and took off running. The Kannabi bridge wasn't that far from konoha, so she could get there within hours… she just hoped Kakashi, Rin, and Obito had the time to wait on her.

:-:_:-:

"What are you waiting on Kakashi… we know where she is." Obito snapped and Kakashi watched him with his only good eye. "We just need to wait a little longer, please." Kakashi said and Obito furrowed his brows. "But what if Rin doesn't have 'just a little longer'?" Obito snapped and Kakashi glared at him. "They are waiting on us, and the more you yell, the more likely they are to find us before back up arrives." He snapped in a hushed tone from his place in the tree.

"Back up? Kakashi this is war, we will have no back up here. It's just us…" he said and Kakashi sighed. "You don't understand do you. Did you not listen when Hinata said she would come if we needed help?" Kakashi asked and Obito glared at him with a vicious sneer. "You would risk her life as well! What kind of fool are you!?" he snapped and Kakashi blinked in surprise. "I don't want Hinata here! What if she gets hurt again!?" he snapped and Kakashi frowned. "We will just have to believe in her." Kakashi said and Obito shook his head.

Obito jumped from his place in the tree and ran right into where they were holding Rin, giving Kakashi no choice but to follow. They ran in and fought off all the enemy nin. Rin sat at the back of the cave, tied up and unconscious. Obito ran right to her and cut her free, waking her from the genjutsu as he did so. She peered up at him and her eyes went wide as he grinned at her and offered her a hand. "Come on, let's go home!" he said and she nodded and grabbed his hand.

She made it ahead of the three of them just as the rumbling overhead caught their attention. Kakashi and Obito looked up to see the roof caving in. Obito took off running, but noticed that Kakashi was lagging behind the group. Obito grabbed Kakashi's arm and threw him ahead of him. The sound of the boulders crashing against the ground and the cloud of dust were all they could see and hear. Rin and kakashir ran right back into what was left of the cave, only to see that Obito was sitting on his rump facing the inside of the cave with a frightened look on his face.

The dust began to clear and they saw Hinata standing in the cave the boulder that would have hit Obito falling into pebbles around him, it didn't however mean that he was fine, there was a boulder that had landed on his entire left leg. He couldn't move it, or even feel it. He looked up at Hinata with fear filled eyes. "You seem to be causing trouble, my young one." A deep fear inducing voice echoed around the cave. This voice froze Hinata in her place. "Obito… the only gift you can give Kakashi is one of your eyes… it will make the bond between you stronger and you both can protect Rin together. I promise you this." She said and he watched her in awe, then he looked over at Kakashi and nodded.

"Its only right, seeing as I'm the one who caused you to lose that eye." Obito said and pulled his Sharingan eye right from the socket and placing it into Kakashi's hand. "Its over for me either way… look at my leg… I'm done for… now, you, Hinata, and Rin… you have a life to live, so go." Obito said a saddened tone to his voice. "Very honorable young Uchiha… but I'm afraid the only two leaving this cave today, are those two over there. the Hyuuga is coming with me, back to where she belongs." The deep voice echoed through the cave as yet another avalanche of boulders fell, causing Rin and Kakashi to run out of the cave for risk of their lives.

Obito however, was not caught in the second avalanche… he was removed from the debris with the assistance of the one named Zetsu.

Hinata however…

"You did well, very well in fact…" his amused voice rang around her as she looked at herself in the reflection of a kunai, she was back to normal. Her eyes locked onto the fearsome man standing over her as he stepped through the portal he had sent her through in the first place. She got to her knees and then pushed herself off of the ground and right towards the portal before he could close it. "You won't go back to the same time you know… it's called an alternate universe for a reason." He chuckled, but allowed her to jump through the portal once more.

"So determined…" he murmured with a raised brow. "I wonder if she realized what alternate universe meant, or if she even heard me… hmm…" he muttered as he looked around at all the shinobi wanting to end him. "I suppose I should entertain them, I will go back for her later. She will learn all efforts are useless." He sighed and turned back towards the army of shinobi before him.

"How about I begin the show…"

:-:-:-:-:

Hinata stood from her place crouched at the village gates where she had landed. "H…Hinata?" a familiar voice rang out. "Hinata… is that you?" the voice called again and she stood and faced the person calling her. Silver hair and a familiar dark eye caught her sight. "Kakashi." She greeted as she stood fully and walked over to him. "Where have you been?" he asked and she blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked and he furrowed his brows. "It's been two years since Obito passed… and one since Rin passed…" he said and her eyes widened in shock.

"Rin? What happened?" she asked and he frowned. "Some dark haired guy that sounded just like the one that had taken you, killed her. He snapped her neck and said that her death was a warning for anyone who continued to attempt to try and find you." He said and Hinata's eyes began to water. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry Kakashi…" she whimpered and rubbed her eyes with her sleeves. He blinked a few times and grabbed her arms. "The scars… they're gone…" he said and she nodded. "I have no idea what happened to them… they were there when he grabbed me and now they aren't." she said and he furrowed his brows.

"Oh! Kakashi!" someone called out to the silver haired shinobi and he turned to face said person, but they froze when their eyes locked onto her. "Hinata… you're back." His voice crackled and he rushed at her. "What happened to you?" he asked and Hinata's eyes softened as the older male embraced her. "I was taken… I was sent through a series of time gates… I jumped through the second one after the man released me and I ended up here…" she said and he nodded. "Minato sensei." Kakashi called and the blonde jumped up and grinned at Kakashi.

"Kushina wanted you to come over for dinner tonight!" Minato said and then turned to Hinata. "I want you to come over as well, alright?" he asked and she nodded. "I will, because I have something very important to tell you." She said and they looked at her oddly. "What would that be." He asked and she smiled. "I know where you can find Obito Uchiha, alive and well." She said and their eyes shot wide. "What do you mean?!" Minato said and Hinata smiled sadly this time.

"The man who took me… he also took Obito. He's attempting to turn Obito into a weapon, despite the fact Obito saw the man who took us, kill Rin. He's attempting to brainwash Obito." She said and they watched her for a minute. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" Minato asked and Hinata nodded. "The man that I loved in the future… it was Obito… but he went by Tobi, he is the masked man who resurrected an evil greater than any you have ever faced. If we don't get to Obito soon, this will happen and your children will be forced to fight in a war that was never meant to happen." Hinata said and Minato nodded.

"Alright. Kakashi, you tell no one of this. Hinata wasn't supposed to let you know she isn't from our time. But as soon as dinner with my wife is finished, we are going to the Hokage, and we will get Obito back." Minato said sternly and they both nodded.


End file.
